Forex trading headlines from the European morning session 14 February
- Eurozone Q4 GDP flash +0.3% vs +0.2% exp
- German Q4 GDP flash +0.4% vs +0.3% exp
- French Q4 GDP flash +0.3% vs +0.2% exp
- UK Q4 construction output revised up to +0.2% vs -0.3% flash
- Eurozone trade balance Dec EUR+13.9 bln vs +15 bln exp
- Italian Q4 GDP flash +0.1% as exp
- Spanish HICP Jan final m/m -1.8% as exp/prev
- French private payrolls rise 14,700 q/q Q4
- Russia leaves key interest rates on hold
- EU has full confidence in Italy to continue with its reforms
- UK coalition parties embarassed in parliamentary bye-election
- Nikkei closes down 1.53% at 14,313.03
- Shanghai comp index closes up 0.83% at 2115.85
Well what do you expect ? I had to get the obvious reference in this post somewhere!
So it’s been a lively session in spurts and when it’s motored it’s been the USD on the back foot as first EURUSD finally got rid of one elephant in the room at 1.3700 but with its twin brother still lurking in the corner at 1.3720. Since the break to 1.3713 we spent most of the session pinned around 1.3700
Similarly cable took out the 1.6675 and 1.6700 barriers finding additional support from perceived M&A demand and has triggered stops to 1.6716 before retreating to camp around 1.6700. Overall the pound continues to shine with EURGBP dropping to 0.8193 from 0.8227 only to stick around 0.8200 since.
Get the picture then? USD-soft tone but it’s not a runaway victory for the bears just yet.
USDJPY had looked at the key 101.50 support on the back of a weaker Nikkei but the yen-pair buying gave it a lift to 101.98 but decent offers capping a couple of attempts and weighed by option expiry interest later. USDCHF dropped again from 0.8940 to 0.8903 only to find the strong 0.8900 bids a step too far but the rallies have been weak.
The aussie $ continues to tease and today it’s the bulls who won the day with the rally continuing where Asia left off and posting 0.9043 before camping at 0.9025. Similar story with the kiwi but USDCAD continued to languish around feeling sorry for itself at 1.0945 but with bids noted just below.
So it’s almost the end of the week which has seen the greenback on the back foot, and a feeling that the market isn’t finished with it just yet.