Forex news from the European morning session 16 April 2015

News:

  • Euro has an early wobble on news that overseas bank subsidiaries have been told to exit Greek debt exposure
  • Cable pops 1.5000 after jobs/earnings data provides fresh demand
  • USD still has a softer tone but levels holding for the moment
  • Option expiries 10am NY cut today 17 April

Data:

  • UK average earnings Feb +1.7 vs +1.8% exp
  • Eurozone CPI March mm +1.1% as exp
  • Eurozone current account Feb +EUR 26.4bln vs +29.4bln exp
  • Japan consumer confidence March 41.7 vs 41.3 exp
  • Swiss retail sales Feb yy -2.7% vs +0.7% exp
  • Nikkei 225 closes down -1.17% at 19,652.88

It's been a wild and wacky session, short on rhetotic,news or data but that which we did get saw the euro tumble in early trading but then USD selling took over and taken currency pairs to key levels

The euro took a dive early on over concerns that Greek banks were being prepared for Grexit and we saw EURUSD fall to 1.0737 from 1.0790 with other euro pairs following suit, EURGBP posted 0.7190 from 0.7215 and EURJPY 127.75

But buyers were quick to re-emerge and we were soon flying back through 1.0780, 0.7210 and 128.25 as USD selling caught hold with a further rally to 1.0834 then 1.0849 but not before testing 1.0800 again. EURGBP has remained anchored around 0.7200 while EURJPY took off to 128.75

UK data intitially brought a muted reaction but the pound had looked supported prior and didn't need an excuse to climb higher first taking out the offers at 1.4985 then triggering stops through to 1.5010, then 1.5037 before falling back to 1.5016 only to bounce again to 1.5053 and now 1.5015 again as I type. Overall the pound has had a good session but the jury remains divided

USDJPY found support at 118.70 for a while on cross play demand but then dipped under pressure only to find more bids into 118.50 while USDCHF has looked laboured all morning since the early EURUSD-based rally to 0.9586. low post so far 0.9495 after chewing through a few bids in to 0.9500

USDCAD has had a double whammy on USD weakness/CAD strength and made its way steadily down to 1.2135 from 1.2200 before finding general greenback grabbing buyers

AUDUSD and NZDUSD have also enjoyed the ride but ran into sellers above 0.7840 and 0.7740 respectively

A nutty non-stop morning and I can't see much changing as we head into US and CAD data

Blink and you miss it. Again