Forex trading news and economic data headlines 24 March 2017

News:

  • Juncker to Trump: A break up of the EU could lead to war
  • EU's Juncker says UK's Brexit cost will be around GBP 50bln
  • Germany's Schaeuble says Brexit is wrong but decision must be respected
  • Keystone edges closer as Trump and TransCanada get set to announce approval
  • ECB's Praet says talk of monetary accommodation exit is premature
  • Sapin says "conditions are in place" for 2017 French public deficit to be under 3%
  • Do you want to know where Morgan Stanley want to go long USDJPY again?
  • Marcon/Le Pen unchanged in Opinionway poll
  • Russian central bank cuts key interest rate to 9.75% from 10.0%
  • Moody's affirms New Zealand issuer rating at AAA, outlook stable
  • CHF and JPY in focus again as USD supply generally prevails
  • Wow! Did we just see the euro rally on the data?
  • The BOJ and MOF had tea together today
  • Option expiries for the 10 am NY cut today 24 March
  • Nikkei 225 closes up +0.93% at 19,262.53

Data:

  • Eurozone Markit mftg March PMI flash 56.2 vs 55.3 exp
  • Germany Markit mftg March PMI flash 58.3 vs 56.5 exp
  • France Markit mftg March PMI flash 53.4 vs 52.4 exp
  • France Q4 GDP final qq +0.4% as expected
  • UK BBA February mortgage approvals 42,613 vs 44.9k exp

Strong PMI flash data gave the euro an early lift but we've also seen CHF and JPY demand and softer USD generally as focus remains across the pond.

EURUSD rallied from 1.0775 to 1.0812 leading euro pairs higher too as French, German and EZ PMI data all came in well above expectations and we saw a reaction not witnessed for a while now .

As that was going on we also saw USDJPY fail into 111.50 to eventually post 111.05 and USDCHF slide from 0.9950 to 0.9905 but it seems an SNB line in the sand down there is once again being defended with EURCHF also holding 1.0700.

The rise in EURGBP into 0.8650 from 0.8630 also put a cap on cable above 1.2500 again but it's gone nowhere of note since while USDCAD has also traded narrowly with CADJPY supply negating USD supply and with oil steady.Similarly AUDUSD, with gold going nowhere, and NZDUSD.

Equities open mixed but have all fallen into negative territory amid a generally risk-off session.

US durable goods and Canadian CPI out at 12.30 GMT then Fed heads Bullard and Dudley before the wait begins to see how the healthcare vote pans.

Should be some opportunity for more pips before the weekend arrives.