- UK gov to offer public a “no money up front” deal for state owned RBS shares
- European council weasel an extra €7.3bn onto EU 2013 budget
- Japan April consumer confidence falls to 44.5 from 44.8
- BOJ announce unlikely to buy more JGB’s to counter yield rise then promptly announce a Y2.8trn operation to calm bond market
- Nikkei index hits highest since 2008 breaking 15,000
- French Q1 GDP -0.2% vs -0.1% exp
- German Q1 GDP 0.1% vs 0.3% exp
- Italian Q1 GDP -0.5% vs -0.3% exp
- Eurozone Q1 GDP -0.2% vs -0.1% exp
- French April CPI -0.1% vs 0.0% exp m/m
- Swiss April PPI 0.2% vs 0.0% prior m/m
- UK claimant count -7.3k vs -3.0k exp
- UK unemployment rate drops to 7.8% from 7.9%
- Mervyn King gives final BOE inflation report
- BOE: Forecasts growth to rise to 0.5% in Q2 2013, 1.7% Q2 2014
- BOE: UK inflation to peak at 3.1% Q3 2013
A fairly subdued start to the day kicked off with a non-event testimony by BOJ’s Kuroda before a Japanese parliamentary committee. The sparks the flew when the BOJ suddenly announced a Y2.8trn package to “calm bond markets” after announcing they were unlikely to buy JGB’s to quash yields.
USD/JPY promptly took off taking out a 102.50 barrier but topped out at 102.61. We slid back after the fireworks to 102.31 before embarking on another run up into the 102.70’s
EUR/USD was well offered as the slew of poor Q1 GDP data came out, briefly dipping below 1.2900. The latest moves in the dollar snubbed out any attempt to get a leg back above the level and we broke down through two long term tech levels. The low so far has been 1.2852
GBP/USD was a similar story following the euro down the chute. The better unemployment report rally was well sold into as was the upbeat inflation and growth report from the BOE. We managed to rally to a high of 1.5273 but close out the session down near 1.5200 once again
AUD/USD stayed in a tight 30 pip range with 0.9850 the level to watch.
EUR/CHF broke 1.2500 for the first time since January while USD/CHF busted into 0.97 territory.
Dollar buying continues to remain strong
