Forex trading news and economic data headlines 18 April 2017

News:

  • May to call UK election - BBC Political editor
  • Election confirmed by May
  • UK's Labour party backs elections
  • Pound rallies as May turns again and calls election
  • UK election called - What are the GBP trading risks now
  • French election Opinionway poll: 1st round Le Pen/Macron/Fillon/Melenchon 22/23/20/19
  • BOJ might be considering a slight cut to inflation estimate
  • Aso says Japan and US agreed to combat unfair trade practices
  • Japan's Aso says friction with US is a thing of the past
  • Pence says US is deeply committed to Japan's security
  • Trump congratulates Erdogan on Turkish referendum victory
  • European Commission says it calls on Turkey to launch a transparent investigation into referendum result
  • Swiss government says SNB's intervention not aimed at devaluing franc for export advantage
  • IMF's Lagarde says Eurozone needs it's own Finance Minister
  • SNB total sight deposits w-e 14 April CHF 567.14bln vs 564.12bln prev
  • Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Financial Stress Index back to its high of the year
  • Option expiries for the 10 am NY cut today 18 April
  • Nikkei 225 closes up +0.35% at 18,418.59

Data: None of note

A fairly lacklustre session sprang into life on rumours of an early UK general election which turned out to be true and we've seen the pound on a roller coaster ride.

Initial price reaction was GBP losses and we saw GBPUSD fall to 1.2516 from 1.2585, EURGBP rally to 0.8514 from 0.8455 and GBPJPY down to 136.16 amongst the prime movers . Then came the announcement and an uncertain rally only to then gain momentum on second/third wave buying and we've seen 1.2678, 0.8415 and 138.12.

Wild and woolly but opportunities nonetheless with the FTSE 100 extending its stronger-GBP based losses to 7201 from 7320

Meanwhile USDJPY had retreated to 108.67 after capping into 109.20 again with GBPJPY helping it down but the rally doing nothing to lift it back. EURUSD has been up to 1.0682 after early 1.0642 lows.

AUDUSD has remained on the back foot but has some option-based support at 0.7550-55 that has helped it off lows of 0.7535 along with the general USD supply that has seen USDCHF down to 1.0002 from 1.0050.

USDCAD however has managed to claw its way higher from 1.3315 to 1.3369 with oil in retreat.

No data of note and little to come from the NA session but markets don't need data right now.