Forex trading news and economic data headlines 2 May 2017
News:
- RBA announce no change to policy - cash rate left on hold
- ECB's Nowotny says policy strategy has to be discussed at June meeting
- Macron give up some lead again in the topsy turvy Opinionway French election polls
- More on "Greece Reaches Bailout Agreement With Creditors"
- Greece debt relief talks will follow deal on reforms
- And now the Greek cheers turn to jeers
- A deal is not a deal until the Germans agree
- The pound finds some love in its continuing hunt for 1.30
- USDJPY continues its march higher to post 6-week highs
- Guess who wants back into the USDJPY long saddle?
- SNB total sight deposits w-e 28 April CHF 571.45bln 569.1bln prev
- Our man on a mission makes it over the line
- Forex option expiries for the 10am New York cut 2 May
- Nikkei 225 closes up +0.7% at 19,445.70
Data:
- April 2017 UK Markit/CIPS manufacturing PMI 57.3 vs 54.0 exp
- March 2017 Eurozone unemployment rate 9.5% vs 9.4% exp
- Eurozone Markit April mftg PMI final 56.7 vs 56.8 exp
- Italy March unemployment rate flash 11.7 vs 11.5% exp
- German Markit/BME April mftg PMI final 58.2 as expected
- France Markit April mftg PMI final 55.1 as expected
- Italy Markit/ADAC April mftg PMI 56.2 vs 56.0 expected
- Switzerland April mftg PMI 57.4 vs 58.2 expected
- Spain Markit April mftg PMI 54.5 vs 54.4 expected
We've seen a steady rise in yen pairs today and the pound has taken good advantage.
USDJPY rallied up through 112.00 right on the Nikkei 225 closing and has gone on to post 6-week highs of 112.31. The generally better risk sentiment with oil and equities both firming has seen a rise in yen pairs with GBPJPY leading the way to 145.13 from Asian lows of 144.20.
That demand, helped by EURGBP supply around 0.8485 and decent UK mftg PMI data has seen GBPUSD rally to 1.2929 from 1.2864 and EURGBP down to 0.8444.
USDCAD has remained underpinned as indeed has USDCHF albeit with EURCHF falling back to 1.0846 from 1.0874
AUDUSD has been in retreat from 0.7555 to 0.7512 as I type after the RBA left rates on hold albeit widely expected. NZDUSD with latest GDT auction currently underway
No data of real note from NA so we'll need other factors to see how far these moves extend or retreat.
