Forex news from the European morning session 22 Oct
News:
- UK's Osborne says UK doesn't want to be part of an ever-closer EU
- UK's Osborne says BOE likely to get the powers it wants for stricter mortgage controls
- France's Hollande says Greek debt relief needs to be discussed
- ECB says timely implementation of Greek programme is key for restoring confidence
- ECB's Nouy says Greek bank stress test results date will be announced "within days"
- France's Sapin says French economy is recovering after 3 "very weak" years
- Fitch says Turkey's country risks continue to stay mostly balanced
- Dai-Ichi Life says it will increase yen bond buying if JGB yields rise
- HKMA sells HK$ 8.37bln into market to keep currency within its band
- BOE's Cunliffe sees potential risks in market-based financing
- Germany's DIHK lowers 2015 growth forecast to +1.7% vs +1.8% prev
- CBA lifts variable interest rate and gives the Aussie$ a wobble
- SNB in the frame again as CHF pairs surge
- Pound less than convinced by retail sales strength
- China's SAFE says they will start individual FX business monitoring
- Option expiries 10am NY cut today 22 Oct
Data:
- UK retail sales Sept mm +1.9% vs +0.4% exp
- Spain unemployment rate Q3 21.18% vs 21.89% exp
- France business confidence Oct 101 vs 100 exp
- Nikkei 225 closes down -0.64% at 18,435.87
All eyes on the ECB of course but we've had a busy session with the euro, pound and swiss franc all having their moments in the spotlight
The session started with USDJPY sliding to 119.62 from 119.80 as the Nikkei turned south but then it was all about the euro as European equity softness gave support
EURUSD edged up toward 1.1350 from 1.l335 with EURGBP and EURJPY failing to really respond but then, as the DAX/others turned positive it was down and further down for the euro
So far we've seen a test of 1.1300 and below 0.7300 for EURBBP accelerated by better than expected UK retails which saw GBPUSD test 1.5510 again having already front-run the data by moving from 1.5435 to 1.5460
The strong headline was tempered by lower revisions and the fact that the ONS cited rugby related beer/food sales as a significant factor in the figure
We've since seen GBPUSD back to 1.5465 and EURGBP up to 0.7318
USDCHF and EURCHF both surged higher in the session with the SNB being cited again while USDCAD has had the morning off around 1.3120
AUDUSD and NZDUSD have both had their wobbles but found support in the dips
All eyes firmly on ECB now
