Forex news and economic data headlines 4 September 2015

Asia catch up - ForexLive Asia FX news wrap: Yen crosses hit hard lower today

  • July 2015 German factory orders -1.4% vs -0.6% exp m/m
  • August 2015 French consumer confidence 93 vs 94 exp
  • August 2015 Swiss CPI -1.4% vs -1.4% exp y/y
  • August 2015 German Markit construction PMI 50.3 vs 50.6 prior
  • UK New car registrations rise 9.6% un August y/y
  • August 2015 Eurozone Markit retail PMI 51.4 vs 54.2 prior
  • There's a good chance of cutting Japanese GDP forecast for 2015 & 2016 says IMF
  • Japan's economy is basically strong says Abe
  • BOJ may downgrade export view in next assessment - Reuters
  • BOJ's Kuroda says world economy is recovering overall
  • Buba's Weidmann never misses an opportunity to take a pop at ECB QE
  • ECB's Nowotny: Unclear if more ECB stimulus will be needed
  • ECB's Noyer says monetary policy alone cannot sustain activity
  • G20 waffle: Schaeuble says emerging market situation will be discussed
  • G20 draft statement didn't tackle Chinese markets
  • The dice have been rolled and the best of the NFP pickers have made their calls
  • Heads up for Fed's Lacker speaking just before Non-farm payrolls

The market looks a little lost today. Maybe there's some fatigue, and maybe no one actually knows what's going on, or what to do about the thing they don't know about.

The Nikkei had USDJPY by the short and curlies once again and was working it's way down towards 119.25 as I sat down. We got more than that as Japan closed up shop for the week and the IMF warned on Japanese forecasts but held just ahead of 119.00. There followed a fight back to above 119.50 on not a lot at all and then we tipped over through 119.00 to 118.84, again with no real driver. We end the session back above 119 but around 13 pips yet it's not looking good for the pair right now. Whatever hopes about the FOMC this month there are seem to be diminishing daily. Non-farm payrolls may come to the USD bulls rescue but that may only provide a temporary reprieve

EURUSD was still suffering from a Draghi hangover and had made camp overnight above 1.1110. There's was no hurry to wake and 1.1140 capped the upside until USDJPY had it's little moment. EURUSD woke up, stretched its arms and went to 1.1160. It didn't like what it saw and climbed back in the sleeping bag 1.1135 is where we snooze now

GBPUSD etched out yet another low on it's helter skelter ride, seemingly to oblivion. It was only a 6 pip increase on the loss yesterday but it keeps the momentum going. We also made it back higher inline with the euro but again that didn't last. There's no turning this trend right now and that's not a good sign. There's hope while we stay above 1.5200 though a strong NFP could kick that thought into touch

AUDUSD looks to have made the decisive break through 0.7000. I remember someone saying it was a matter of "when" not "if", can't remember who though ;-)

Support has come in at 0.6960 and we have strong bids, barriers and stops galore every 50 pips from 0.6950 down to 0.6800. We all know how the market loves a target to shoot at

And here we sit waiting for the yanks to ride in and save our sorry arses. What could go wrong?

Dollar bulls hoping for a fairy tale rescue from NFP