Forex trading news and data headlines 26 March 2015
- April 2015 German GFK consumer sentiment 10.0 vs 9.8 exp
- Q4 2014 France GDP final 0.1% vs 0.1% exp q/q
- February 2015 Eurozone M3 money supply growth 4.0% vs 4.3% exp y/y
- February 2015 UK retail sales +0.7% vs +0.4% exp m/m
- 1.5000 in GBPUSD a step too far after buoyant retail sales
- March 2015 UK CBI distributive trade sales 18 vs 15 exp
- China steel consumption drops "should be support ... but seems ... demand not very strong"
- Japan's Aso getting hyper on hyperinflation
- SNB intervention totalled CHF25.8bn towards the end of 2014SNB say they were caught between a rock and a hard place over pulling the EURCHF floor
- Greece believes it will reach a deal on reforms with eurogroup early next week
- France's Sapin says French growth will be better than 1.0% in 2015
- Fed's Bullard says now may be the time to normalise US monetary policy
- Fed's Bully Bullard bearish on EU inflation
- BOJ noob Harada not keen on 2 year target for inflation
- Draghi next in speakers corner today
- Yemen shuts all major sea ports due to growing conflict - Iran condemns Saudi military action
USD/JPY was on the slide when I sat down and it kept sliding throughout most of the session. 119 had already been broken but the break was confirmed after a stop-led drop to near 118.50 another flush came soon after to the low at 118.33 before a bottom was found. It was all about the yen to start with as the Nikkei dropped 1.3% and the pound and euro were relatively stable
GBP/USD found it's legs as European traders got underway as the yen buying switched to outright dollar selling. Up through 1.4900 we went, breaching yesterday's highs at 1.4953. It didn't stop there and by the time the bumper UK retail sales came out we were already at 1.4970. 1.4994 saw the retail top put in place and a recovery in the dollar took us all the way down to 1.4911 pretty swiftly. Whether this dollar bounce is of the dead cat variety remains to be seen but we finish the session at 1.4928 having found new resistance at 1.4950
EUR/USD had been knocking at 1.1000 for several days and buyers thought they had finally got what they wanted as it smashed through up to a 1.1052 high. Yet again though there were willing sellers and the modest bounce in USD/JPY has sunk the euro back under 1.1000 once more. The dips have been becoming more shallow and if 1.0970-50 holds once more then we can expect another try at 1.10. Failing that we're just as likely to just go sideways between the levels
The Yemen fall out has naturally seen oil benefit and Brent is currently stabilising in the 58-59 buck range. The Saudis are reported to have boots on the ground along their borders so there's plenty that could happen yet in this story.
European stocks have taken a hit this morning with more than a few fingers pointing towards Yemen as the reason. The run to the yen on Yemen probably has legs but the swissy didn't move until well into the European session so it's not entirely a risk off scenario
Draghi is due to speak somewhere in the next 30-60 minutes and jobless claims data at the bottom of the hour gives us another chance at a data inspired move
