Cyprus to dominate in headline trading

The US dollar regained its losses following the FOMC announcement last night although there was nothing in the statement the market hadn’t expected, with the board sighting that although there are signs that the labour market is improving there are concerns for Q4 growth as the sequester cuts kick in. The Fed yesterday seemingly left asset purchases at current levels for the foreseeable future. In other news the China HSBC manufacturing PMI number for March came in at 51.7, higher than the consensus of 50.8 but there was a muted market reaction to the release.

In the antipodeans world New Zealand Q4 GDP came in at its highest level for three years at a solid 1.5% versus the expected 0.9%. Across the Tasman the Australian PM called a snap leadership vote only for no one else to stand against her.

The market will be dominated by headlines today from the Cypriot circus as the new BoJ Governor Kuroda holds his first press conference at 9am this morning. I doubt he will want to disappoint the market so I expect hard line stimulus talk although overnight we did hear a negative comment from finance minister Aso that “2% inflation in two years may not be so easy.”

Today’s data consists of PMI figures from Europe along with retail sales from the UK this morning, with the US session highlights being the weekly initial claims, flash PMI and Philadelphia business survey.

EUR/USD

Supports 1.2840-1.2710-1.2660 | Resistance 1.2980-1.3000-1.3020

USD/JPY

Supports 95.30-94.80-93.70 | Resistance 96.30-97.20-97.80

GBP/USD

Supports 1.5100-1.5060-1.4980 | Resistance 1.5180-1.5220-1.5280