Forex trading news and economic data headlines 20 February 2017
News:
- UK government has no intention of revoking article 50
- EU's Tusk says he heard promising comments from US VP Pence
- Another day, another gain for Le Pen in French election Opinionway poll
- Heads up for an ECB story doing the rounds
- China fine-tunes its midpoint mechanism for the yuan
- EU's Juncker says this is not the moment for Europe to divide itself
- EU Commission says reports of Juncker's resignation are "fabrication"
- Homes in German cities are 15-30% over priced in 2016 say Bundesbank
- Pound enjoys a perky start to the week
- It's could be a good day for the tech in the pound
- SNB total sight deposits w-e 17 Feb CHF 543.46bln vs 539.0bln prev
- Nikkei 225 closes up +0.09% at 19,251.08
Data:
- Germany January PPI mm +0.7% vs +0.3% exp
- February 2017 UK CBI industrial trends orders 8 vs 3 exp
A quiet start but with equity markets faring better in Asia and Europe we've seen some level of risk-on sentiment return and with it GBPJPY back in focus.
USDJPY had an early, but failed, look above 113.20 after holding 113.00 in late Asia as the Nikkei finished on a positive note but it wasn't long before a bid below 113.10 was re-emerging with GBPUSD also benefitting.
As GBPJPY started to rally so too did GBPUSD and made short work of offers/res around 1.2450 to post 1.2483 then retreating but not before GBPJPY had posted highs of 141.28 from Asian lows of 139.95.
EURJPY also enjoyed a move higher as did AUDJPY but it both cases it did little to support core pairs with EURUSD stuck around 1.0625-30 and AUDUSD retreating to 0.7660 support area again after failing around 0.7690 in Asia
USDCHF and EURCHF have found a bid again with the SNB never far away and increased sight depos last week suggesting their hand on the tiller still.
European equities started out on the front foot but have given up a few gains since and that's helped cap yen pairs. Unilever at one point were around 9% lower on the news that Kraft Heinz had pulled its bid.
Oil prices have firmed while gold has remained steady but that hasn't helped either the CAD or AUD.
US and Canada on holiday today so we can expect thin trading conditions. It remains to be seen, in the absence of any news bombs, whether anyone has the appetite to throw it around further.
