Forex news from the European morning session 3 Dec

News:

  • It could be a bloodbath in short term European bonds if Draghi fails to deliver
  • Preview: Scenarios in play ahead of today's ECB decision
  • Beware: The ECB decision could leak at any time
  • Draghi says ECB will refrain from meeting or talking to media, investors during the "quiet period"
  • EURUSD selling picking up some speed at 1.0550 breaks
  • Iran says oil price drop is responsibility of other OPEC members
  • BOJ's Kiuchi says there is downward pressure on exports, capex and private consumption
  • More from Kiuchi: Worries about BOJ balance sheet could be negative for currency stability
  • Stories on Saudi oil cuts are baseless - Livesquawk
  • Japanese government to cut bond issuance this fiscal year - Rtrs
  • Putin says Russian economic situation difficult but not critical
  • How to capture big moves in currency pairs - part 2

  • Option expiries for the US cut today

Data:

  • November 2015 UK Markit CIPS services PMI 55.9 vs 55.0 exp
  • Eurozone Markit services PMI Nov final 54.2 vs 54.6 exp
  • Germany Markit services PMI Nov final 55.6 as flash
  • France Markit services PMI Nov final 51.0 vs 51.3 exp
  • Italy Markit services PMI Nov 53.4 vs 53.9 exp
  • Spain Markit services PMI Nov 56.7 vs 56.4 exp
  • October 2015 Eurozone retail sales -0.1% vs 0.2% exp m/m
  • Nikkei 225 closes up +0.01% at 19,939.90

It's all eyes on the ECB and the market has been understandably cautious

We've seen euro slippage all morning with final PMI data doing little to help and EURUSD has finally taken out the barrier defence at 1.0550 to post new 7 month lows of 1.0540

That in turn has dragged EURGBP down to 0.7057 and EURJPY down through decent support at 130.50 and 130.20

GBPUSD had a wobble back toward 1.4900 again despite better services PMI but the EURGBP supply has helped bring buyers back to post 1.4940 again after 1.4905 lows

USDJPY has remained underpinned but tempered by EURJPY selling and offers around 123.50 while USDCHF has also found a bid while EURCHF slips but holds above 1.0800

USDCAD has had the morning off between 1.3320-40 while AUDUSD has made steady progress from 0.7300 to 0.7335 with EURAUD supply helping the rally. NZDUSD has also had the morning off around 0.6655 with cross plays having a dampening impact

It's all about the ECB though and we haven't got long to wait now