Forex news from the European morning session 17 Dec
News:
- Chinese yuan closes weaker for 10th consecutive session
- ECB's Weidmann says further Greek debt relief is not a matter of urgency
- ECB says Eurozone recovery increasingly supported by domestic demand
- ECB lowers Greek ELA ceiling to €75.8bln
- Swiss government lowers 2015 GDP forecast to +0.8% vs +0.9% prev
- Great news from the FOMC but what's next? More from guest economist John Hearn
- Option expiries 10am NY cut today 17Dec
Data:
- German IFO business climate Dec 108.7 vs 109.00 exp
- November 2015 UK retail sales 1.7% vs 0.5% exp m/m
- October 2015 Eurozone construction output 0.5% vs -0.4% prior m/m
- Q3 2015 Eurozone labour costs 1.1% vs 1.6% prior y/y
- Italy trade balance Oct +€4.812bln vs +€2.188bln prev
- Nikkei 225 closes up +1.59% at 19,353.56
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A little earlier than usual as I have to head out to a meeting but the main theme of the session so far has been one of the greenback still mostly in control but giving up some Asian gains
Following the roller-coaster ride immediately post-FOMC the US$ made solid progress higher in Asia but we've seen some money taken off the table and cross-plays also dominating with traders still rightly cautious
EURUSD has been up to test 1.0880 res/offers but settling back mostly around 1.0855 with large option expiries in play ( see above) while EURGBP has also been tightly pinned down between good support at 0.7250 and offer/res above 0.7285. Slightly better than expected German IFO had little impact but firmer equities are weighing on the euro generally.
GBPUSD had a spike higher testing 1.5000 after stronger than expected retail sales but just as quickly was slammed lower again and we're currently back down at 1.4933 after previous fresh lows of 1.4919. Strong support into 1.4890 still.
USDJPY enjoyed the Asian equity rallies but the move above 122.50 has been tempered by yen-pair selling. Support still into 122.20.
USDCHF and EURCHF have remained underpinned above 0.9930 and 1.0785 and the ever watchful SNB can not be ruled out as having a helping hand in that
USDCAD has traded tightly with support at 1.3780 and resistance into 1.3840 with the rally so far helped by softer oil prices
AUDUSD and NZDUSD have also seen cross play demand but similarly rallies tempered by USD demand
Jury very much out then as we wait on the next reaction from the US
