The action has picked up a bit in Asia this session as investors hurried to buy Yen amid profound risk aversion due to the fears that are swirling in lieu of the current global recession fears and the faltering US auto industry.  The Dollar also benefitted from growing uncertainty as investors pulled out of stocks in both the US and Asia and those markets subsequently collapsed. The Buck may lag behind the Yen in the ''Risk aversion race'' as many see further rate cuts down the pipeline for the US Fed. USD/JPY started the session near the high of 96.03 and traded sideways for a while, but collapsed to 94.98 after the lunch break as the Nikkei extended losses to over 6%. As per Forex.com's chief strategist Brian Dolan, ''It's going to be a very rocky road'', and he sees great probability of a downside test of 94.50. USD/JPY hit a 13 year low of 90.93 last month. The EUR/JPY cross followed a choppy path near 119.85 most of the session, but the carpet was pulled out late in the session as it fell to lows of 118.53, finding company with GBP/JPY, AUD/JPY and NZD/JPY, which all followed the same path. A weekly EUR/JPY chart looks like something I wouldn't dare ski down without a parachute.                         
                        
EUR/USD was tame considering the current climate, as it stuck to a 50 pip range for the majority of the day, before hitting a dollar high of 1.2742. GBP/USD bottomed out at 1.4919 before a small bounce into London's open. UK retail sales are scheduled for later in London's session at 9:30 GMT.                       

Upcoming Economic Data Releases (London Session):                       
  • 11/20/2008    7:00    GE     Producer Prices (MoM)          OCT      0.30%   -0.70%
  • 11/20/2008    7:00    GE     Producer Prices (YoY)            OCT      8.30%    7.30%
  • 11/20/2008    7:15    SZ     Trade Balance                       OCT      1.44B     - -
  • 11/20/2008    7:15    SZ     Exports (MoM)                       OCT     -8.20%    - -
  • 11/20/2008    7:15    SZ     Imports (MoM)                       OCT     -3.20%    - -
  • 11/20/2008    9:30    UK     Retail Sales (MoM)                 OCT     -0.40%   -0.90%
  • 11/20/2008    9:30    UK     Retail Sales (YoY)                   OCT     1.80%    1.40%
  • 11/20/2008    9:30    UK     Public Finances (PSNCR)        OCT     12.6B     -2.8B
  • 11/20/2008    9:30    UK     Public Sector Net Borrowing  OCT      8.1B       0.0B
  • 11/20/2008    9:30    UK     M4 Money Supply (MoM)        OCT P   1.50%    0.80%
  • 11/20/2008    9:30    UK     M4 Money Supply (YoY)         OCT P   12.40%  12.70%