Forex news from the European morning session 17 June 2015

News:

  • French fin min Sapin says Greek deal needed by 30 June

  • Tsipras: Government will say the "big no" if there's no viable agreement

  • Greek central bank says failure to reach an agreement would mark beginning of painful course to default

  • EU's Dijsselbloem says it's up to Greece to present alternative solutions
  • Austrian chancellor Faymann says institutions must help Greece with poverty
  • Eurogroup meeting likely to be another short one tomorrow
  • BOE MPC Minutes - Voting unchanged at 9-0
  • German IFO raises 2015 growth forecast to 1.9% vs 1.5% prior
  • Japan's Inada says rapid FX moves are undesirable
  • French economic minister Macron says 2015 GDP likely to be above 1%
  • Pound scratches the rate hike itch after wages jump in Labour market data
  • Swiss Franc finds safe-haven demand again as Grexit looms ever larger
  • Option expiries 10am NY cut today 17 June

Data:

  • May 2015 UK labour market report claimant count -6.5k vs -12.3k exp
  • May 2015 Eurozone HICP final 0.3% vs 0.3% exp y/y
  • April 2015 Eurozone construction output 0.3% vs 0.8% prior m/m
  • April 2015 Italian trade balance 3.736bn vs 4.060bn prior
  • Japanese machine tool orders May final 15.0% as exp/prev
  • Nikkei 225 closes down -0.19% in 20,219.27

It's been another good session for the pound as wages data particularly led the way to a rapid rise which has been sustained across a wide range of pairs

Pairs were quiet to start with but we saw some euro demand as Europe opened up with EURUSD testing o/n highs around 1.1270 and euro pairs similarly doing ok with EURGBP nudging back above 0.7200 and EURJPY up through 139.20

The fun n games really began with the UK data and we saw GBPUSD fly to 1.5730 from 1.5660 slapping EURGBP back down to 0.7165 then 0.7150 with substantial GBP gains across the board. Offers/res around 1.5750 has stalled further progress with traders having one eye on the FOMC

USDJPY has enjoyed a good morning with yen weakness notable sending the pair to test 124.00 from 123.55 and EURJPY to 139.76 but with 140.00 still a step too far

Swiss franc safe-haven demand on Grexit fears saw USDCHF shake out longs through 0.9270 to post 0.9235 and EURCHF down to test 1.0400 but both pairs have recovered well, no doubt given a leg up by GBPdemand which has seen GBPCHF rally from 1.4450 to 1.4630

USDCAD enjoyed some early USD demand but then failed again above 1.2335 while AUDUSD has seen a steady decline from 0.7720 to 0.7672 on cross supply with NZD also dribbling lower still

It's all brewing up nicely for the FOMC to take centre stage later