The Nikkei came roaring back to strong gains in the realm of almost 5% today as the Japanese Government threw its hat in the ring stating that it would help struggling companies with public capital in order to keep them alive. With this affirmation and higher stocks brought the flight from risk aversion (for now), and the Yen being sold in the Asian session. USD/JPY started the session at is dead low of 88.73 and as the Nikkei gained so did USD/JPY, eventually topping off at levels near 89.72. The crosses were higher as expected with the move, as EUR/JPY made a move from the 117.25 arena to highs posted above 118.85. The pair eased out of the session closer to the 118.00 figure ahead of some European data including: German IFO, Import Price Index, and Euro Zone Current Account. GBP/JPY rose from a low of 124.22 to highs of over 126.15 before stabilizing at 125.70.
Markets in Asia were still thin as the Lunar New Year holiday continued on except for Australia and Japan. The Dollar was weaker against the Euro and Sterling, as the EUR/USD ended the session up slightly near 1.3200, a big move however from early NY levels just over 1.2900. In GBP/USD we saw a continuation of the moves from early NY as well, where the pair began its journey near 1.3750, and hit a top of 1.4055 in Asia.
This session also saw Timothy Geithner pass through the US Senate vote to become the Treasury Secretary for the Obama administration, so now with all the important pieces in place, we can await the much anticipated second phase of the rescue plan.
Upcoming Economic Data Releases (London Session):
| 1/27/2009 | 7:00 | GE | Import Price Index (MoM) | DEC | -3.40% | -2.90% |
| 1/27/2009 | 7:00 | GE | Import Price Index (YoY) | DEC | -1.30% | -3.70% |
| 1/27/2009 | 7:00 | EC | EU's Almunia, McCreevy Speak at Event in Brussels | 27-Jan | ||
| 1/27/2009 | 9:00 | GE | IFO - Business Climate | JAN | 82.6 | 81 |
| 1/27/2009 | 9:00 | GE | IFO - Current Assessment | JAN | 88.8 | 85 |
| 1/27/2009 | 9:00 | GE | IFO - Expectations | JAN | 76.8 | 77.5 |
| 1/27/2009 | 9:00 | EC | ECB Euro-Zone Current Account SA | NOV | -6.4B | - - |
| 1/27/2009 | 9:00 | EC | Euro-Zone Current Account nsa | NOV | -4.8B | - - |
| 1/27/2009 | 10:00 | AS | ECB's Nowotny Speaking in Vienna | 27-Jan | ||
| 1/27/2009 | 11:00 | UK | U.K. CBI January Distributive Trades | 27-Jan |
