Forextrading headlines from the European morning session 14 August
- UK jobless claims fall 29.2k vs -15k expected. Unemployment rate unch at 7.8%
- UK MPC voted 9-0 to keep rates and QE on hold. 8-1 on fwd guidance
- UK MPC minutes in full
- EZ Q2 GDP prelim +0.3% vs +0.2% exp
- German Q2 GDP prelim q/q +0.7% vs +0.6%
- French Q2 GDP prelim q/q +0.5% vs +0.2% exp -0.25 prev
- Nikkei closes up 1.32% at 14,050.16
- Shanghai closes down 0.29% at 2100.14
- French CPI final july m/m -0.3% vs -0.4% exp
- SNB’s Zurbreugge says EURCHF cap to stay as long as needed
- Swiss producer import prices july m/m 0.0% unch y/y +0.5% vs 0.0% exp +0.2% prev
- Swiss ZEW investor sentiment 7.2 vs 4.8 prev
- German BDI Federation cuts growth forecast to +0.5% from +0.8% prev
- EU’s Rehn says recovery is within reach
Well we certainly can’t complain about the lack of movement in these sessions lately, and this morning’s star performer was the pound once again after jobless claims came in better than expected, and the MPC minutes threw in no nasty surprises.
Just prior to the release GBPUSD had been testing strong buying interest between 1.5420-30 but then soared to highs of 1.5506 only to fall back to 1.5456 where fresh buyers drove it back up to 1.5489 as I type. EURGBP had flirted with 0.8600 but then dropped like a stone before a small rally only to slide lower to 0.8551 currently. Overall the pound has fared well having looked a little suspect as we sat down. Funny ol’ world.
USDJPY grinded higher as the Nikkei once again closed strongly sending USDJPY to 98.43 and yen pairs higher with it. Japanese exporters and macro names then came to sell around 98.40 and we were soon back at 98.01 only to bounce back toward 98.30 with yen pairs following like a good puppy.
The euro has looked a little suspect despite better than expected GDP data and EURUSD has spent most of the session pinned back around 1.3245 ahead of strong buying interest between 1.3230-35 after an early rally found plenty of supply.
AUDUSD opened on the back foot but has made solid progress all morning rising from 0.9080 to 0.9133, but it’s been steady as she goes for the loonie around 1.0350.
So a session that gave us plenty of opportunity again and with US inflation data up at 12.30 GMT we can expect more to come.
