After the violent US Dollar reversal in the NY session, things stabilized a bit in a Japanese holiday subdued Asian session. While NY witnessed record moves in Crude Oil and EUR/USD as well as eroding confidence in the Fed bailout plan leading to an equity meltdown, Asia saw moves early, but range bound trading quickly ensued. EUR/USD opened near the 1.4760 lows, hit a high of 1.4826, and traded up and down in a 35 pip range for the rest of the session. Many traders now see 1.5000 as a reality sooner than later, barring any disastrous data in Europe in the coming days. USD/JPY hit a high of 105.67 early and just fizzled from there...A 105.13 low was soon to follow as markets looked thin and tired while Japan sat out for the Autumn Equinox Holiday. Regardless of the holiday though, 105.00 seems to continue be a well supported zone by Japanese bidding. The USD/JPY pair exited the session close to 105.30, right in the middle of the sessions range. EUR/JPY was privy to bigger moves as banks bought the Yen crosses and sent the pair to 156.30 highs. The bottom eventually fell out and the pair dropped to 155.28 before a rebound closer to 155.70 to end the day. As is usual with the Yen, risk aversion came screaming back as many wait to see if the $700 Billion rescue package can get through Congress unscathed by delays. Traders fear that the bailout plan can get bogged down in Congress, thus the US Dollars continued weakness. Other pairs, such as GBP/USD, and AUD/USD were range bound and just moving horizontal for the session.       
      
Later in Europe look for PMI data from Germany and the Euro-Zone, and the big show will be in the US as the spotlight will be on the bailout package as well as ever-volatile crude oil.


Upcoming Economic Data Releases (London Session):

  • 9/23/2008 6:45 FR  Consumer Spending (MoM)  AUG  -0.40% -0.10%
  • 9/23/2008 6:45 FR  Consumer Spending (YoY)  AUG  1.00% 0.40%
  • 9/23/2008 7:00 FR  PMI Manufacturing  SEP P  45.8 46
  • 9/23/2008 7:00 FR  PMI Services  SEP P  48 47.7
  • 9/23/2008 7:30 GE  PMI Manufacturing  SEP A  49.7 49.2
  • 9/23/2008 7:30 GE  PMI Services  SEP A  51.4 50.7
  • 9/23/2008 8:00 EC  PMI Manufacturing  SEP A  47.6 47.3
  • 9/23/2008 8:00 EC  PMI Services  SEP A  48.5 48
  • 9/23/2008 8:00 EC  PMI Composite  SEP A  48.2 47.8
  • 9/23/2008 8:30 UK  BBA Loans for House Purchase  AUG  22448 - -
  • 9/23/2008 9:00 EC  Industrial New Orders SA MoM  JUL  -0.30% -0.60%
  • 9/23/2008 9:00 EC  Industrial New Orders YoY  JUL  -7.40% -3.60%