Forex trading news and economic data headlines 4 May 2017
News:
- Macron tightens his iron grip around the neck of Le Pen's presidential hopes
- Pound and euro continue to gain after a round of good data while USDJPY faces a wall of corporate offers
- USDJPY tests 113.00 as EURJPY leads the way
- ECB's Praet says we'll have better information in June
- Prince Philip will stand down from all public engagements from the Autumn
- Russia has made no decision on extending the OPEC output deal
- Trudeau says lots of challenges to US/Canada trade agreement but a long way from collapsing
- More from RBA's Lowe: Lower rates would increase imbalances in the system
- AUDUSD still pinned down near session lows as metals fall again
- Forex option expiries for the 10am New York cut 4 May
Data:
- April 2017 UK Markit/CIPS services PMI 55.8 vs 54.5 exp
- March 2017 UK mortgage approvals 66,837 vs 67,400 exp
- March 2017 Eurozone retail sales 0.3% vs 0.1% exp m/m
- Eurozone April Markit services PMI final 56.4 vs 56.2 exp
- Germany April Markit/BME services PMI final 55.4 vs 54.7 exp
- France Markit services PMI final 56.7 vs 57.7 exp
- Italy Markit/ADACI April services PMI 56.2 vs 53.6 exp
- Spain Markit April services PMI 57.8 vs 57.7 exp
- Spain unemployment change April mm -129.3k vs -78.8k exp
- Switzerland SECO April consumer confidence -8 vs 3 exp
- India Nikkei/Markit April services PMI falls to 50.2 vs 51.5 prev
Firmer equities with Macron seeing off Le Pen in last night's key tv debate has seen some risk-positive return with the euro taking full advantage.
Early moves lower in yen pairs were quickly reversed catching a few traders on the hop and it's been a steady move higher since with USDJPY testing 113.00 and core pairs rallying as yen sellers prevail.
EURUSD has been up to 1.0941 from 1.0880 with EURJPY posting 123.62 from 122.60 while GBPUSD has tested 1.2900 from 1.2831 and GBPJPY rallies to 145.74 from 144.67. EURGBP up to 0.8487 from shows euro outstripping the pound.
Strong PMI data in EZ and UK have helped those two currencies but no such love for AUDUSD as metals continue to fall with gold down to 6-week lows of $1232.50
USDCHF fell back into 0.9900 as EURUSD rallied and EURCHF retained a bid to post 1.0850/
USDCAD was capped by some CADJPY demand but softer oil has seen a move from 1.3700 to 1.3732.
CAC40 (recent highs) and DAX (new record highs) both up over 0.9%.
It's been a busy data slate and there's a bit more to come too from NA with weekly US jobless claims and factory orders ahead of tomorrow's NFPs. ECB's Draghi and BOC's Poloz also up to the rostrum.
