Forex news for European trading on May 25 2017

News:

  • Oil prices tumble as OPEC seems set to agree on 9-month output cut extension
  • Oil dipping again as talk of 9 month extension gathers momentum
  • Iraq say there is a proposal being discussed for 9 month extension and deeper cuts on oil output deal
  • All in the oil mix still as OPEC/non-OPEC meeting looms
  • EU and US to start work on a trade deal action plan
  • UK police stop sharing Manchester bomb attack information with the US
  • UK police confirm an "incident" in Manchester
  • BOJ's Sakurai says maintaining current monetary policy, fiscal stimulus, should be enough for now
  • Fitch say APAC non-bank growth brings both benefits and risks
  • USD demand noted as risk sentiment softens again
  • Moody's on New Zealand: Expect real GDP growth around 3% through 2017 and 2018
  • Forex option expiries for the 10am New York cut 25 May
  • Nikkei 225 closes up +0.36% at 19,813.13

Data:

  • UK Q1 GDP revision qq +0.2% vs +0.3% expected
  • Italy March industrial orders mm -4.2% vs 5.3% prev
  • Spain Q1 GDP final qq +0.8% as expected

A busy session with markets still trying to dissect last night's FOMC Minutes while also getting flung around by oil price volatility.

Early risk-on sentiment prevailed as equities opened firmer after the softer tones on rate hikes on the FOMC Minutes but that was soon being reversed and saw the DAX fall by over 140 points after opening +0.5%.

USDJPY has nudged up toward 112.00 from 111.65 as general USD demand has returned but that and the yen/franc demand has seen other core pairs in solid retreat.

GBPUSD has been down to 1.2940 after a pre-data run up to 1.3016 with GBPJPY dropping to 144.80 from 145.40. Weaker UK Q1 GDP headline data not helping the pound's cause along with on-going state of alert at "critical".

EURUSD has fallen to test 1.1200 after failing at 1.1250.

It's oil though that's grabbed a lot of the attention as the OPEC meeting got underway. Stories emerged that while there was consensus for a 9 month extension there was little appetite for deeper cuts as had been mooted.

Cue WTI tumbling to $50.30 after $52.01 session highs and Brent $52.82 from $54.69. An equally as quick part- correction followed only to fall to fresh session lows. The meeting continues as I type with non-OPEC delegates due to join at 13.20 GMT and a presser after agreement has been made.

USDCAD had an early rally from 1.3387 to 1.3448 on the initial oil wobbles but CAD has proved resilient to the further falls.

NA data risk comes in the shape of US initial jobless claims and trade balance with Fed's Brainard and ECB VP Constancio the CB talking heads after that.