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b]Today’s Currency Movers[/b]





EURUSD, Daily

After a smaller than previous gap opening EURUSD rallied to a resistance at Friday’s close and turned lower as the buyers failed to challenge the sellers at the resistance. Trading Greek related politics is difficult, if not impossible and that leaves us with technicals. Technically EURUSD is inside a potential support area but still relatively close to a weekly low from two weeks ago (1.1130) and is now trading outside the upward trend channel. This and the lower high in mid-June suggest that the pair might come lower this week. Current trading takes place just above a support (1.0948) but there isn’t much upside momentum and the nearest resistance at 1.1032 isrelatively close. This should may dampen the bulls’ readiness to bid the prices higher. This could lead to sideways trading today. Daily support and resistance levels: 1.0930 and 1.1135.


European markets in general are holding their breath ahead of today’s Eurogroup and EU leaders meetings. Bund and Gilt yields continue to decline as stocks remain under pressure, although losses on FTSE and DAX remain limited so far and peripheral Eurozone 10-year yields outside of Greece came off yesterday’s highs. Officials stress that they want to keep Greece in the Eurozone, but also that that still requires firm reform commitments from Greece. So all eyes are once again on Tsipras and his new Finance Minister.


The latter may represent more of a change in style than substance, however, and it remains unclear what proposals both will bring to Brussels. What is clear is that with the ECB tightening the pressure by raising the haircut on Greek collateral substantially today’s round of meetings really represent Greece’s last chance to prevent default and Grexit.


Greece’s last chance to come to an agreementand avoid bankruptcy is a quick deal or at least the firm progress of one at today’s Eurogroup meeting that will be followed by an EU summit in the evening. Hollande and Merkel stressed again yesterday that time is running out and the ECB tightened the pressure on banks by raising the haircut on Greek collateral – reportedly to 45%. Banks will remain closed today and tomorrow, but without a deal it will be almost impossible to open them again quickly and the government will likely face troubles at tomorrow’s T-bill auction. Grexit will almost become inevitable. If there is a deal, ECB’s Nowotny suggested that the ECB could provide bridge financing. So once again all hinges on Greece’s proposals and its willingness to compromise.


ECB also lifted haircut on Greek collateral, while maintaining ELA assistance to Greek banks for now. The decision will increase pressure on Greece ahead of today’s Eurogroup meeting and EU summit. It will also but local banks in a difficult position ahead of Wednesday’s T-Bill sale. The Greek government has been relying on rolling over T-bills to keep afloat, with Greek banks and institutions the only takers. With the fresh increase on the haircut, it will be increasingly costly for Greek banks to hold Greek government debt.


US June ISM services index edged up to 56.0 from May’s 55.7 as per yesterday’s release. However the 57.8 in April is still the highest of the year, while the 58.8 in November was cycle high since November 2005. However, components were mixed. The employment index fell to 52.7 from 55.3. New orders rose to 58.3 from 57.9, while new export orders declined to 52.0 from 55.0. Prices paid slid to 53.0 from 55.9. Also, US Markit services PMI fell to 54.8 in the final June print versus May’s 56.2 (and 54.8 June preliminary). It’s the lowest since January’s 54.2 and reflects continued slowing in the expansion. A year ago the reading was 61.0. Employment slid to 54.1 versus 55.5 in May, though the expansion in the job sector has persisted for 64 straight months. The composite index dropped to 54.6 from 56.0 in May (and 54.6 for the June preliminary). It is also the lowest since January.

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EURUSD, Daily
EURUSD is yet once again trading at the same resistance it failed to penetrate yesterday. After moving lower the pair found support at 1.1000 support. Earlier on the day the disappointing US jobless claims figures failed to move market significantly but later in the US session buyers stepped in at around 1.1000 support and sent EUR higher. Higher low formed yesterday suggests that EURUSD will try to push higher today. At the time of writing the pair has reacted lower from the daily resistance created by rising trend channel and 1.1135 resistance. However the pair has also made a high print of 1.1134 (yesterday’s high was 1.1125) and found support from 1.1080 while the next significant intraday resistance level is at 1.1188. I am expecting EURUSD to move higher and towards the 1.1188 intraday resistance today. The nearest daily support and resistance levels are at 1.0930 and 1.1135.
Greece submitted its reform proposals at the 11th hour as it seeks an additional EUR 53.5 bln ($59 bln) in bailouts. The 10-page document included many reform measures which had been sought by the EU, including government spending cuts for pensions. PM Tsipras also agreed to shift a variety of goods and services into higher sales tax categories. In return for accepting even harsher measures than previously proposed, the government wants a commitment from creditors to further negotiate long-term debt conditions. Officials, including those from the IMF, will analyze the proposals prior to Saturday’s EU finance ministers meeting, prior to the EU summit on Sunday. Risk appetite is likely to extend higher into the weekend on this news.
Greece’s concessions could save the day. The last minute reform proposals are similar creditor’s proposal from June 24, which voters rejected in a referendum last Sunday. The new proposals are to be checked for feasibility and sustainability by ECB, European Commission and IMF prior to the Eurogroup meeting Saturday and the summit on Sunday, according to newspaper reports, but initial reviews suggest Tsipras made more concessions, while also asking for a review of debt sustainability. The important part here is to stress that this doesn’t need to be haircuts, which no-one is asking for, but could also be a further extension of the debt schedule and lower interest rates, something finance ministers already discussed last year. Although officials will likely want to see signs that reforms are not just promised but actually implemented, before committing to such a move.
ECB ultimatum may have aided reform concessions. A dutch newspaper reported that the ECB will terminate ELA as of 6 am Monday morning if Greek reform proposals are deemed too light and Greece is unwilling to cooperate with withdrawal from the Eurozone. The reports cites an unidentified EU official and the ECB’s final ultimatum may have helped to produce somewhat of a turnaround in Greece, which seems to have finally ended the posturing and put meat on the reform proposals.
U.S. initial jobless claims surged 15k to 297k in the July 4 week, following the 11k jump to 282k in the prior week (revised from 281k). This brought the 4-week moving average to 279.5k versus 275k (revised from 274.75k. Continuing claims jumped 69k to 2,334k in the week ended June 27 from 2,265k in the prior week (revised from 2,264k). The larger than expected increase in jobless claims is likely more a function of the July 4 holiday than a change in the labor market, even though the BLS said there was nothing unusual in the data.




Currency Pairs, Grouped Performance (percentage change from previous day’s close)
This morning EUR is trading higher while JPY is down again as the need for safe haven dissipates. Other currencies’ performance remains mixed and without strong directional bias. USDJPY has rallied to a resistance at 122.08 while EURJPY battles with a resistance level at 135.72. CADJPY is nicely up from the support at 94.83 and same applies to GBPJPY that has rallied from 185.02 support. NZDJPY has rallied to a resistance at 82.51.

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EURUSD, Daily
EURUSD price, now having touched the lower end of my initial 1.0970’s corrective bounce target, should open up the way for a 1.1030’s lower top on any clean break of the 1.0970’s. Daily chart price action is still well contained within my downward sloping bear channel; Stochastic Oscillator analysis supports a further corrective bounce before any resumption of the daily chart downtrend. Traders may look to open new short positions within the 1.1030’s for a measured move (March lows – May highs) that may extend price lower towards a retest of the 1.0840’s.
Standard & Poor’s on Tuesday upgraded Greece’s sovereign credit rating by two notches and revised its outlook to stable from negative, citing euro zone countries initial agreement to start negotiations with the country on a third bailout. The probability of Greece leaving the Eurozone is less than 50% , however the country may still face shrinking GDP.
U.S. Fed’s annual industrial production revisions showed production knocked down to 0.2% in June, versus the prior 0.3% print, while May was left at -0.2%, with April revised up to a -0.3% pace from -0.5% previously. Capacity utilization for June was revised down sharply to 77.8% from 78.4%, while May was nudged to 77.7% from 78.2%, with April at 78.0% versus 78.5%. At the margin, the data add to the argument for the FOMC to delay a September rate hike.

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The Federal Reserve statement cited “solid job gains and lower unemployment rate” and suggested that there is a positive trend in labour resource utilisation: “a range of labor market indicators suggests that underutilization of labor resources is gradually diminishing”. The Fed continues to lean on its verbal arsenal rather than real action, such as QE. The first case of such verbal action was two weeks ago when Mr Bullard appeared on Bloomberg and suggested that there should be more QE. This appearance coincided with the US stock market being at major technical support; the stock market rallied from the level after his comments.