Forex news and trading headlines 20 Jan 2016

Davos:

  • UK's Hammond says Brexit will need a "suite of free trade agreements"
  • More from Hammond: Change of administration in US means greater uncertainty for EU
  • More from Kuroda: IMF projections for world economic outlook appear to be fairly cautious
  • Shabes & Hammond in Davos: Brexit won't have a short-term negative impact
  • More from Davos: Blackrock's Fink says Fed rate hikes could significantly increase value of US dollar
  • Ireland's Noonan: It's not possible for the UK to be a Singapore in Europe
  • Russia's Oreshkin not concerned about oil supply shocks

Other news:

  • PBOC to provide 28-day liquidity for several major commercial banks
  • PBOC has cut RRR at 5 big banks to ease seasonal liquidity pressure
  • ECB QE will not last forever but too early to discuss tapering says Coeure
  • ECB survey has 2017 inflation expectations at 1.4% vs 1.2% prev
  • Central banks should staunchly stick to their mandates says ECB's Praet
  • USDJPY is overcoming its late US session slip
  • Option expiries for the 10 am NY cut today 20 Jan
  • Nikkei 225 closes up +0.34% at 19,137.91

Data:

  • December 2016 UK retail sales -1.9% vs -0.1% exp m/m
  • Germany December PPI mm +0.4% as expected
  • Japan December nationwide dept store sales -1.7% vs -2.4% prev

Davos has dominated ahead of Trump's highly hyped inauguration ceremony with plenty of rhetoric but none that's been directly a price-changer.

After a quiet start we've seen some USD buying again with USDJPY once again leading the way up to 115.37 after an early look at 114.50 support/demand again.

GBPUSD has been down to 1.2261 from 1.2365 and EURGBP up to 0.8673 from 0.8630 helped along the way but some weak UK retail sales data. EURUSD failed into 1.0700 again and has retreated to 1.0628.

USDCAD has grabbed hold of the US$ rally with both hands to post 1.3379 despite oil prices firming. Canadian CPI data out today at 13.30 GMT.

AUDUSD continued its retreat that began in Asia after failing into 0.7600 and has now posted 0.7518 with gold down from $1209 to $1199.

Equities have had a mixed time of it and that sums up the session as we wait and see if Trump throws any surprises into the mix later.