Risk aversion came roaring back after US stocks were bashed on poor retail sales and the possibility of more gloom and doom from the battered financial sector. Asian stocks were quick to follow the same road and the Yen was primed to gain ground on the back of the poor equity showing. The Yen began the session inching higher and hit a setback as poor Machinery Orders in Japan pushed USD/JPY from 88.88 to a 89.24 high, but the earlier momentum pushed the pair back to a session low of 88.77 as the Nikkei dropped over 4%.
The crosses all favored the Yen as investors fled riskier assets for Yen safety.

The Euro bounced back from early NY session lows of 1.3094 and hit a Asian high of 1.3219 before trading sideways into Europe's morning. Rumors yesterday of Ireland asking for help from the IMF helped push the Euro off of a 1.3337 cliff to start the carnage. All eyes will now focus on the upcoming ECB rate decision at 12:45 GMT where the expectation is that a .50bp cut to 2.00% is in the cards.
However, in light of the recent downgrade warnings of Portugal, Spain and Ireland and the utter collapse of Greece, it is not out of the realm of possibility that the ECB could be a bit more aggressive and make a cut closer to 1.0%. Don't rule it out especially in lieu of recent comments by ECB members.
Once the rate is announced look for markets to immediately look ahead to the next slew of US data and the US Presidential Inauguration next Tuesday (US), after a holiday weekend.

Upcoming Economic Data Releases (London Session):

1/15/20097:00GEConsumer Price Index (MoM)DEC F-0.50%0.30%
1/15/20097:00GEConsumer Price Index (YoY)DEC F1.40%1.10%
1/15/20097:00GECPI - EU Harmonised (MoM)DEC F0.40%0.40%
1/15/20097:00GECPI - EU Harmonised (YoY)DEC F1.10%1.10%
1/15/200910:00EC Euro-Zone CPI (MoM)DEC-0.50%-0.10%
1/15/200910:00EC Euro-Zone CPI (YoY)DEC2.10%-0.10%
1/15/200910:00EC Euro-Zone CPI - Core (YoY)DEC1.90%1.80%
1/15/200911:01NZ QV House Prices YoY%DEC- - - -
1/15/200912:45EC ECB Announces Interest Rates15-Jan2.50%2.00%
1/15/200913:30CA New Motor Vehicle Sales MoMNOV -0.90%-7.70%