Forex news from the European morning session 4 June 2015

News:

  • Deputy Greek shipping minister says no deal possible if reports of creditor proposals are true
  • Greece says its rejects creditors' proposal
  • Greek official says Tsipras will make a counter offer to lenders
  • Greek default is unlikely says French economic minister Macron
  • Greece always aims to repay its obligations - Varoufakis
  • Varoufakis rules out a snap election
  • EU's Moscovici talks about fishing and netball
  • So which sofa is Greece getting this IMF payment money from?
  • BOJ's Harada says yen strength has now been corrected
  • Bank of England leaves rates unchanged at 0.5%
  • Bank of France sees French CPI rising +0.3% in 2015
  • Ukraine's Poroshencko says there is a colossal threat of a large scale military operation again Ukraine
  • Option expiries 10 am NY cut today 4 June

Data:

  • French Q1 mainland unemployment change -38k vs -8k exp
  • Eurozone retail sales PMI rises in May
  • UK Halifax house price index May mm -0.1% vs +0.2% exp
  • March 2015 Greek unemployment rate 25.6% vs 25.2% exp
  • Nikkei 225 closes up +0.07% at 20,488.19

Another madhouse that had the euro, bonds and Greece taking centre stage again

It all started with a wobble though as EURUSD tested support into 1.1225 again, EURJPY dipping to 139.50 and EURGBP to 0.7325 but then as bond yields started to rise again we saw the buyers come back with a vengeance

As German 10 year bunds headed towards 1.0% we saw the euro explode higher amidst on-going uncertainty/rhetoric around the sorry saga called Greece

EURUSD smashed through 1.1300 in a rush from 1.1275, pausing into 1.1350 before finally posting 1.1380 taking EURGBP with it to strong res at 0.7385 and EURJPY to 141.07. EURCHF didn't want to miss out on the party and posted 2 1/2 month highs of 1.0575 and that has helped stem USDCHF falls too

Meanwhile USDJPY had taken a little knock lower with yen pairs on the Harada comments but found good demand from EURJPY and has held onto 124.00 so far.

GBPUSD remains the bridesmaid but has climbed to 1.5442 on the back of the EURUSD rally helped by offers into each EURGBP rally.Cable still looks like a reluctant riser though and is back down to 1.5400 as I type

USDCAD drifted lower but found support as CAD weakens on the crosses while AUDUSD has found some poise again to get back above 0.7750 after trade data related sell-off in Asia.

Little by way of data today but eyes will remain on the bond markets and US NFPs due tomorrow

Heady times