Forex news from the European morning session 26 May 2015

News:

  • Varoufakis says they will pay IMF payment 5th June
  • ECB's Noyer says Grexit is, above all, a risk for Greece
  • EU's Moscovici says Greece must stay in Eurozone
  • ECB's Hansson: Interest rates to stay low for some time
  • ECB's Noyer: Very low rates are squeezing banks margins
  • ECB's Visco says QE has eased deflation fears
  • ESM's Regling says time is running out for Greece
  • Whoopee! There's a EU meeting on Greece today
  • Japan's Suga says effect of cheaper yen is within expectations
  • Bernanke says he sees no bubble like the housing bubble before the crisis
  • IMF: Expects Chinese growth of 6.8% y/y in 2015
  • Moodys says Spain benefitting from stronger growth but debt level remains high
  • Cameron and Juncker try to find a way forward on EU reform
  • The USDJPY volcano finally blows
  • Cable sticks to its range after the early fall through 1.5430
  • CHF in demand as Greek concerns continue

Data:

  • Option expiries 10am NY cut today 26 May
  • SNB sight deposits w/e 22 May CHF 380.10bln vs 377.23bln prev
  • May 2015 UK CBI distributive trades sales 51 vs 17 exp
  • Swiss Q1 non farm payrolls 4.225m vs 4.23m prev
  • Nikkei 225 closes up +0.12 % at 20,437.48

If yesterday was the warm while many enjoyed a long week-end then we've kicked off the week in style this morning with increased USD demand led by USDJPY

We saw some general buying early with USDJPY enjoying support around 121.80 as the Nikkei had a quiet day but consolidating yesterday's fresh 15 year highs

This gave EURUSD a nudge lower from 1.0940 to 1.0910 where it wiped its feet before then tumbling through 1.0900 to 1.0885 as USDJPY finally chewed through large offers at 122.00 triggering stops to 122.36, then pausing before taking out a barrier option at 122.50 to trigger more stops to 122.76.

Meanwhile GBPUSD was having its own wobble and testing 1.5430 support but given some further bids as EURGBP dropped from 0.7095 to 0.7065. The USDJPY surge though was enough to send it down through 1.5400 to test good support/bids at 1.5380-85. We've had a couple of attempts since to get back through 1.5425-30 but the level is providing a decent cap

USDCHF went up through 0.9500 but made hard work of it up there as safe-haven CHF demand helped knock it back to 0.9461 with EURCHF breaking through recent support at 1.0340 to post 1.0322

USDCAD enjoyed the ride up from 1.2310 to 1.2375 where it ran into tech res/offers while AUDUSD and NZDUSD continued their Asian drop before running into support below 0.7780 and 0.7270 respectively as USDJPY offers above 122.80 have given encouraged a bit of profit-taking

A lively session that's left much in the balance given some good/key levels holding so far and US durable goods data out shortly