Forex trading headlines from the European morning session 18 February
- UK core CPI Dec m/m -0.6% vs -0.5% exp. y/y +1.9% vs +2.0% exp
- German ZEW economic sentiment Feb 55.7 vs 61.7 exp
- Eurozone ZEW economic sentiment Feb 68.5 vs 73.9 exp
- UK house price index y/y +5.5% vs +5.8% exp
- German govt believes ” normalization” of US monetary policy is needed
- ECB’s Praet says Eurozone growth can exceed expectations if reforms are continued
- BOJ’s Kuroda says will not hesitate to adjust policy if risks materialize. Full BOJ presser here
- Japanese official says that the weak yen/strong exports theory no longer true
- Eurozone current account surplus Dec EUR +33.2 bln vs+20 bln prev
- Italian global trade surplus Dec EUR +3.69 bln vs +3.02 bln
- China targetting industrial output growth at 9.5% in 2014
- Nikkei closes up 3.13% at 14,843.24
- Shanghai comp index closes down 0.77% at 2119.07
Welcome bank America, and I hope you all had great holiday week-end.
A lively but very tradeable morning with the softer GBP tone carrying over into the early part of the session then accelerating after weaker than forecast, but not unexpected, CPI data.
GBPUSD had drifted down from 1.6730 to support still in at 1.6690 with London names prime sellers and then a dip to test the large bids at 1.6650, possibly related to tomorrow’s option expiries .
Cue a move back up to 1.6708 aided by EURUSD finally chewing through the large 1.3730 offers but only posting 1.3734 before running out of steam. Cue GBPUSD to attract a few sellers again and we’ve been back to 1.6665. Rinse n repeat time.
EURGBP has been up to 0.8238 and back to 0.8218 before posting 0.8230 again and overall the pound has lost ground.
Yen pairs have had a mixed session after the Nikkei rally on expanded BOJ loan facilities which saw USDJPY fly to 102.74 but since then eased its way back down in a generally offered session which has seen USDCHF clinging onto strong Swiss bids at 0.8900.
The aussie $ has drifted back yet again from the Asian highs and we’ve seen AUDUSD testing 0.9000 before a bounce to 0.9024 as I type. Kiwi similarly has lost a little of its o/n shine and the loonie has given up some gains with USDCAD rising to 1.0966 after finding good bids down toward 1.0940.
Plenty going on and plenty of opportunity.
