Forex news and trading headlines 19 Jan 2016

News:

Davos:

  • May in Davos: UK to step up to a new leadership role
  • Germany's Schaeuble calls for more free trade for more inclusive growth
  • Schaeuble wants to minimise the damage between the EU and UK
  • More from Schaeuble: The City of London is, and will remain, an important financial centre

Other:

  • EURUSD steady ahead of the ECB - What to expect today from Draghi
  • The pound is not completely ready to give up the May gains
  • IEA says OPEC/non-OPEC deal to cut output still in "probation period"
  • Japan's Suga says government will reform tax system and rules to attract foreign investment
  • Nikkei 225 closes up +0.94% at 19,072.25

Data:

  • Eurozone November current account SA EUR +36.1 bln vs +28.3bln prev
  • Switzerland December PPI mm +0.2% as expected

After yesterday's US$ rally post Yellen/Poloz we've seen some come off the table in this session and a few sellers return.

USDJPY had an early look at 115.00 but failed twice around 114.95 and bid a relatively speedy retreat to 114.40 before finding fresh buyers.

GBPUSD led the charge for US$ bears and was soon taking out 1.2300 having held 1.2250 in Asia and helped by some GBPJPY demand. Highs of 1.2342 before running into sellers and that move sent EURGBP down to test 0.8630 from 0.8680.

EURUSD has nudged higher to 1.0671 but once again been caught in some cross play impact and that's mostly had a capping effect.

Oil had an early rally but that too ran out of puff and the retreat has helped USDCAD up to test 1.3300 having found a big line in the sand now at 1.3250. AUDUSD has enjoyed some support from the US$ supply and posted 2-month highs of 0.7574 but tempered by softer gold price while NZDUSD failed to hold above 0.7200 from 0.7133 and fell back to 0.7170

Equities opened a tad softer and done little since

US jobs and housing data to come but it's the ECB presser that will focus attention at 13.30 GMT.