• German June import prices +0.9% m/m, +9.1% y/y, stronger than median forecasts +0.6%, +8.5% respectively
  • German Gfk August consumer sentiment indicator rises to 3.9 from revised 3.6 in July, better than median forecast of 3.5
  • Dutch July business confidence -2.4 pts after -0.7 pts in June – CBS
  • Euro zone June M3 annual growth 0.2%, stronger than media forecast of -0.1%
  • UK CBI retail sales balance +33 in July vs -5 in June. Highest since June 2004. Flattered by reweighting, would have been +21 under old methodology. But still much better than median forecast of flat
  • China CBank: Euro debt crisis will not have big impact on Chinese economy

Not much in the way of any really interesting new news, but it’s been an active session with plenty of choppy price action.

EUR/USD started around 1.2995 and rallied over 1.3000 early. The way higher was blocked pretty smartish though, as reports surfaced that China was selling in the 1.3010/15 area, followed by talk the Swiss National Bank was on the offer at 1.3020/25. Then further talk had the BIS and China joining the SNB on the offer up at 1.3020/25. That was that.

From a 1.3023 session high we eventually got as low as 1.2963. Buy orders had been reported at 1.2950/70 and they proved durable. Large European fund reported buying down around the lows.

An Asian sovereign was also seen good buyer around 1.2970/80. Didn’t get the name, but think it was either Bank of Korea or Monetary Authority of Singapore. Both are said to have been buyers of dollars overnight against their home currencies, and will have needed to have done a bit of diversifying

Subsequent EUR/USD recovery, aided by heavy buying of the EUR/CHF cross (up at 1.3775 from early 1.3645) has extended to session high 1.3036 before slipping back to 1.3025 at wrting. Shouldn’t think it’ll be long before we get reports of renewed SNB sales.

USD/JPY up at 87.38 from early 86.95. Been talk of Japanese bank aggressively buying USD/JPY O/N calls with an 88.00 strike. Risk sentiment is in ok shape and that will have weighed on the yen a little.

EUR/JPY up at 113.80 from early 112.95, with model funds seen good buyers of the cross this morning. Stops tripped through 113.50, more seen through 114.10.

AUD/USD up at .9062 from early .9010. Talk well-respected US think tank has been out tipping further RBA rate hike next week.

Cable up at 1.5545 from early 1.5495. Main spurt came after the release of extremely strong CBI retail sales data (see above). We went from 1.5480 just ahead of release back over 1.5500 and onwards to session high 1.5546.