Forex news from the European morning session 5 Oct

News:

  • US Fed's Rosengren expects rate hike this year despite "weak" September jobs report
  • Greece must implement the July accord quickly
  • Greek budget to show a revenue shortfall of €3.4bln
  • Germany to take in 1.5m refugees in 2015
  • UK govt to offer £2bln of Lloyds Bank shares to the public
  • More notable option expiries coming up this week
  • Option expiries 10am NY cut today 5 Oct

Data:

  • September 2015 UK Markit CIPS services PMI 53.3 vs 56.0 exp
  • Eurozone Markit services PMI Sept final 53.7 vs 54.0 exp
  • Sentix Eurozone investor confidence Oct 11.7 vs 11.8 exp
  • August 2015 Eurozone retail sales 0.0% vs -0.1% exp m/m
  • Germany Markit services PMI final Sept 54.1 vs 54.3 flash
  • France Markit services PMI Sept final 51.9 vs 51.2 exp
  • Italy Markit services PMI Sept 53.3 vs 54.1 exp
  • Spain Markit services PMI Sept 55.1 vs 58.7 exp
  • UK official reserves change Sept -£321m vs +£656m prev
  • Nikkei 225 closes up +1.58% at 18,005.49

We've seen the euro take centre stage in the aftermath of Friday's NFP report which left markets in uncertain mode yet again, and duly has decided to send the euro back lower as the session nears an end

Firmer equity markets didn't see the recent euro sell-off and that encouraged buyers back in. All very steady as EURUSD rallied from 1.1220 to post 1.1289 despite softer PMIs but since then traders have been keen to book some profits and we're currently back to 1.1228

Similarly EURGBP made its way above 0.7420 accelerated by weaker UK services PMI only to once again run out of puff and return to 0.7395 as I type and EURJPY posted 135.72 aided by yen selling but now 135.03 again

GBPUSD enjoyed some early USD-neg sentiment to post 1.5245 but was soon heading lower again as traders booked profits into the UK PMI data and they were right to do with support around 1.5185 tested again.

USDJPY had an early rally to 120.20 from 119.90 as Nikkei fared better overall but ran out of steam into the close. Since then though we've found EURJPY selling capping the pair with decent offers between 120.30-50 once again stalling a further advance

USDCHF has done little but has held gains above 0.9700 while USDCAD found support into 1.3080 to rally back above 1.3100

AUDUSD finally popped through 0.7100 but also ran out of steam while NZDUSD also chewed its way higher to 0.6531 from 0.6470 only to also retreat

A game of two halves then so far as we wait on the US to cast a vote from across the pond.