Forex news from the European morning session 6 May 2015

News:

  • Eyes on the bond market again as 10-year US/Bund spread plays its part on euro strength
  • UK Election 2015: What happens if no one wins?
  • Option expiries 10am NY cut today 6 May

Data:

  • April 2015 UK Markit CIPS services PMI 59.5 vs 58.5 exp
  • Eurozone Markit services PMI April final 54.1 vs 53.7 exp
  • Germany Markit services PMI April final 54.0 vs 54.4 exp
  • March 2015 Eurozone retail sales -0.8% vs -0.7% exp m/m
  • France Markit services PMI April final 51.4 vs 50.8 exp
  • Italy Markit services PMI April 53.1 vs 52.0 exp
  • Spain Markit services PMI April 60.3 vs 57.4 exp
  • Greek unemployment falls to 25.4% in Feb
  • US MBA mortgage market index 427.3 vs 447.9 prior

A session short on rhetoric, long on data and one that has seen the euro and pound both enoying a roller coaster ride

After yesterday's USD sell-off we saw more of the same early doors with GBPUSD rising to 1.5242 and EURUSD to 1.1271 with the bund/bond market providing the main landscape again

USDJPY was testing support at 119.70 but finding JPY-selling related bids and USDCHF testing support at 0.9212. AUDUSD was perky but not really challenging 0.8000 with conviction

But then we saw more roller coaster moves in the euro and pound that sent EURUSD back to 1.1225 in a rush just above decent support at 1.1220 and 1.1200. GBPUSD got slapped from 1.5220 to 1.5170 on weaker services PMI before staging a mini rally before falling again to 1.5152

EURUSD meanwhile was falling again to test 1.1200 support with EURGBP on a path lower from the earlier heady highs of 0.7419 as the pound found some good demand and we've since seen 0.7366 and 1.5232 helping to cap EURUSD rallies beyond 1.5230

USDJPY has remained rooted to the spot on cross plays but USDCAD has continued to fall on firmer oil prices again but has failed to breach the key 1.2000 support

AUDUSD kept a bid in the dips and has now finally popped over 0.8000 while NZDUSD has also been in fairly tight mode both caught up in the cross play crossfire elsewhere

Rapid changes to match the erratic English weather this morning and it's unlikely to settle anytime soon. Ditto the weather.