Forex trading news and economic data headlines 6 April 2017
News:
- ECB's Draghi says reassessment of monetary policy stance not warranted
- ECB's Praet says interest rates to remain at present or lower level well past QE
- Dovish Draghi sends euro lower again
- Draghi cracks the dovish whip but the euro can't crack support
- Discussion is legitimate on when ECB should consider monetary policy normalisation says ECB's Weidmann
- US Fed's Williams: 2 more rate hikes in 2017 is a sensible starting point
- White House eco adviser Cohn supports Glass-Steagall style separation
- BOE's Vlieghe says faster inflation on its own doesn't mean a rate hike
- Czech central bank removes currency cap
- EURGBP rally puts a lid on cable again
- Two Ex-Barclays traders off the hook in LIBOR scandal trial
- Theresa May kicks off her campaign trail and is due to meet Tusk today
- RBI leaves benchmark rate unchanged at 6.25%, raises reverse repo rate to 6% from 5.75%
- Option expiries for the 10 am NY cut today 6 April
- Nikkei 225 closes down -1.4% at 18,597.06
Data:
- Germany February factory orders mm 3.4% vs 4.0% exp
- Germany Markit retail PMI March 52.5 vs 51.2 prev
- Japan March consumer confidence index 43.9 vs 43.4 exp
It's been all about the euro today as ECB rhetoric sent the currency sharply lower (all relative in these markets) before traders decided enough was enough and up we went again.
Draghi set the ball rolling early on by pouring more cold water on taper talk and we saw EURUSD fall to 1.0629 from 1.0670, EURGBP to 0.8511 from 0.8552, and EURJPY 117.35 from 118.00. The pairs traded nervously with Praet also talking in dovish terms soon afterwards but with decent support lines holding traders started to take some money off the table.
The rally gathered a bit more pace with Weidmann adding his usual frustrations at the on-going cheap money and with USDJPY also finding dip demand helped by equities paring losses we've seen rallies to 1.0674, 0.8567 and 118.35.
No-one's any the wiser though really and we remain in recent ranges.
USDCHF had an early rally on the euro retreat only to reverse the move with EURCHF clinging to 1.0700.
AUDUSD mostly contained all session with option expiries in a cluster at prevailing levels while USDCAD similarly in a tight-ish range but finding sellers around 1.3450 with firmer oil prices notable.
US initial jobless claims and Canadian building permits at 12.30 GMT with more CB talking heads to follow.
