Forex trading headlines 7 August 2014
- Q3 2014 Swiss consumer confidence -1 vs 3 exp
- June 2014 German industrial output 0.3% vs 1.2% exp m/m
- H1 2014 French trade deficit was less than €30bn says French trade secretary
- June 2014 French trade balance -5.38bn vs -4.91bn exp
- June 2014 Spanish industrial output 0.8% vs 2.7% exp y/y
- June 2014 Spanish house transactions 8.8% vs 5.4% prior y/y
- May 2014 greek unemployment rate 27.2% vs 27.2% exp
- Irish CPI July m/m -0.2% vs +0.1% prev
- EU Commission says it reserves the right to take action after Russia bans food imports
- Japan’s massive GPIF stirring up the investment pot
- AUD/USD looking poorly after jobs data
- Greece’s opposition party Syriza tells government to lift Russian sanctions
- Rio Tinto earnings up as iron ore shipments increase
- Russia to ban food imports from US, EU, Australia, Canada and Norway
- Will the ECB be spurred into action after economic data fails to ignite the economy?
A fairly calm start to the session was given a coffee injection by way of sources claiming they knew how the GPIF was going to allocate investments in their portfolio. The suggested numbers had been floating around in the market previously by way of economist forecasts (h/t JC) but the fact that these we’re more official sources saw the Nikkei turn around a 60 tick loss to run up a 72 point gain. USD/JPY took the news well and we popped to 102.46 from 102.20.
AUD/USD was still reeling from the overnight jobs numbers and the quick move in the US dollar gave the pair another shunt down from 0.9191 to 0.9266. We came within 9 pips of bids at 0.9250 and roll into the US session 8 pips higher at 0.9267.
EUR/USD was moseying around the top end of the overnight range at 1.3390 when another round of German manufacturing data came in lower. No real surprise after yesterday’s poor numbers in factory orders and a 10 pip loss took as from 1.3385 to 1.3375. Worse French trade balance data helped slow move to session lows at 1.3365 before a mild bounce to 1.3381. Europe and the Russians are playing sanction snap and there will really only be one loser and that will be economics. Not something either side needs right now especially Europe.
GBP/USD was snoring away ahead of the BOE rate meeting. Nothing is expected and the 30 pips range tells that story.
ECB is up next at 12.45 gmt +1 and then the presser where the action will probably be at 13.30 gmt+1
