Forex trading news and economic data headlines 17 February 2017

News:

  • Trump's next pick for national security adviser turns down the offer
  • ECB should be open to rate cuts says ECB's Lane
  • PM May says EU success remains in UK's interests
  • Germany says not enough progress made as yet on Greek bailout review
  • Abe says he gained Trump's understanding of Japan's monetary policy
  • Russian government will react quickly if rouble strengthens further
  • Le Pen gains again in latest French election poll
  • New Zealand rating at "AA" and outlook Stable affirmed by Fitch
  • China's commercial banks sold USD 19.2bln net in Jan vs 46.3bln in Dec
  • Tony Blair is back out from under his rock and has Brexit on his mind
  • Yen pairs still near session lows and failing to rally
  • Nikkei 225 closes down -0.58% at 19,234.62

Data:

  • January 2017 UK retail sales -0.3% vs 0.9% exp m/m
  • December 2016 Eurozone construction output -0.2% vs 0.4% prior
  • Eurozone December current account SA EUR +31.0bln vs +36.4bln prev

It's been all about the yen and pound again this session as concern grows about the ability of Trump and his administration to deliver.

USDJPY began the day capped into 113.50 after lows of 113.15 in Asia and it wasn't long before the tone of yen demand spread across all core pairs capping any further rallies.

As USDJPY retreated so too did GBPUSD with GBPJPY once again a prime mover for hedge funds and algos. From 1.2485 we've been down to 1.2388 helped by dismal UK retail sales data with GBPJPY falling to 139.62 from 141.97.

EURJPY falling to 119.96 meant EURUSD found rallies hard work despite getting some support from EURGBP rallying to 0.8592 having posted 0.8520 in early trading . AUDUSD failed to get back above 0.7700 and has been down to 0.7658 as AUDJPY dropped to 86.33

CHF demand has been less noticeable in USDCHF and EURCHF but both have remained on the back foot while USDCAD has rallies to 1.3100 as CADJPY supply made its impact.

Equities opened in uncertain territory and then headed lower as the risk-off sentiment grew while gold has made a few gains with oil dipping but finding some support as yen pairs also started to bounce off lows.

Nothing on the data front to come to trouble the scorers and with US markets on holiday on Monday we wait to see what appetite NA desks have for any battle today.