Forex news from the European morning session 8 June 2015
News:
- White House denies Obama said strong dollar is a problem
- French official says Obama said strong dollar is a problem
- ECB shouldn't be led to end QE prematurely says Nowotny
- ECB's Nowotny says rising bond yields are just a normalisation
- ECB's Nowotny says downturn in Eurozone is over
- Bank of Italy's Rossi: QE will not be terminated before Sep 2016
- French fin min Sapin says Grexit wouldn't be a drama
- Greek government repeats they can not accept creditors' proposal
- Negotiation continue on a political level says Greece's Sakellarides
- Greek econ min Stathakis says a deal can be reached relatively soon
- Moodys says UK will enjoy solid growth but high debt burden will last until 2017
- Latest OECD indicators show growth momentum slipping in US/Canada but firming in Eurozone
- Option expiries 10am NY cut today 8 June
Data:
- German trade balance April mm sa EUR+22.3bln vs +19.4bln exp
- German industrial output April mm +0.9% vs +0.5% exp
- June 2015 Eurozone sentix 17.1 vs 18.7 exp
- Bank of France business sentiment index May 99 vs 98 exp
- Japanese economy watchers index May 53.3 vs 54.2 prev
- Nikkei 225 closes down -0.02% at 20,457.19
It's been a lively enough start to the week but one that has shown how fragile these markets are as talk of Obama comment on USD strength dominated the proceedings
EURUSD had tested 1.1080 again despite better data out of Germany, and was hanging in around 1.1095 when reports filtered through of a French official quoting Obama as having said that USD strength was a problem.. Cue a quick jump through 1.1150 then again to 1.1179 ultimately
The move dragged euro pairs in its wake with EURGBP heading back up though 0.7300 but not without GBPUSD breaching 1.5300 albeit briefly. EURJPY demand gave USDJPY a bid into 125.00 but overall the greenback was on the back foot.
The momentum was already waning though when US denials of any such comment brought the dollar bulls back out from behind the rocks to stage another ambush
Cue GBPUSD needing little excuse to drop to session lows of 1.5220 as euro pairs continued to find support slowing the EURUSD retreat to 1.1118 and then heading back up as I type
USDJPY having found dip-demand failed to make the most of the USD buying and has struggled to hold gains above 125.35
USDCHF has been tossed around by the EURUSD flows with EURCHF running out of steam in the initial rally at 1.0480 but holding 1.0450 since
USDCAD has also been caught up in the cross-play crossfire while AUDUSD and NZDUSD both found a bid again but with offers slowing further moves for the moment
A busy enough start but one that's highlighted how thin these trading conditions are.
