Forex trading news and economic data headlines 28 March 2017

News:

  • ECB monetary policy works says Nowotny
  • The ECB's policy for 2017 has largely been set - Nowtony
  • Nowotny: The normalisation of inflation is expected in 2017
  • ECB's Liikanen: Forward guidance is appropriate
  • ECB's Mersch says they are committed to greater levels of transparency
  • Standard & Poors see nothing to change UK's negative outlook
  • EU's Dijsselbloem says UK must pay Brexit bill before trade talks begin
  • UK's Davis says "the era of huge sums being paid to the EU is coming to an end"
  • France's Fillon says that the EU shouldn't seek to punish the UK in Brexit talks
  • Hammond to meet Schaeuble in Berlin today
  • WSJ: Trump Administration Signals It Would Seek Mostly Modest Changes to Nafta
  • SNB's Jordan says policy normalization is far away
  • SNB's Maechler: CHF would be much stronger without negative rates
  • Italy's Padoan: Country's banking problem is solved
  • JP Morgan is sizing up offices in Dublin
  • Lloyd's of London confirms new subsidiary in Brussels
  • All unchanged in latest Opinionway French election poll
  • PIMCO on understanding High Yield Bonds
  • Option expiries for the 10 am NY cut today 30 March
  • Nikkei 225 closes down -0.8% at 19,063.22

Data:

  • March 2017 Eurozone economic sentiment 107.9 vs 108.3 exp
  • Spain March CPI flash mm 0.0% vs +0.2% exp
  • Saxony March CPI mm +0.2% vs +0.5% prev
  • Brandenburg March CPI mm +0.3% vs +0.5% prev
  • March 2017 Baden Wuerttemberg CPI 1.6% vs 2.2% prior y/y
  • China Q4 final current account surplus USD 11.8bln vs 37.6bln flash reading
  • Switzerland KOF March leading indicator 107.6 vs 105.8 exp

A session that's mainly seen a big fat finger all over the pause button again, despite a lot of noise offstage but not without opportunity for those keen enough to play it.

Plenty of rhetoric from the ECB and Brexit related know-nothings but it was the softer Spanish and German regional inflation data that caught the eye and we've seen EURUSD down to 1.0731 and EURGBP testing 0.8620 again. EURJPY had a look below 119.20 but found a little demand as USDJPY held option expiry related support at 111.00

That softness to EURGBP has underpinned GBPUSD helping it to hold 1.2400 on an earlier dip and we've back up through 1.2450 to post 1.2470 so far with GBPJPY also helping with a rally to 138.73 from 137.75

Equities have had a quiet time of it for the most part as have commodities and that's helped keep AUDUSD and USDCAD in tight ranges too

German CPI at 12.00 GMT then US GDP and weekly jobless claims at 12.30 GMT along with Canadian IPPI/RMPI.

US Fed heads Kaplan, Williams, and Dudley all in the mix too as is the Mexican interest rate decision.

Full calendar here