It was a lukewarm trading session in NY as the grilling of many of the top Wall Street CEO's captured the market's attention for the better part of the day. Economic data was bleak as both US and Canadian trade numbers came in weaker than expected for the month of December. Canada posted its first monthly trade deficit since the mid 1970s to boot.

Risk appetite was mixed. Stocks managed to eke out a modest 0.8% rally after a near -5.0% rout yesterday. Long-term Treasuries were bid and the 10-year yield shed -5bps to 2.76% on the back of a healthy auction. Gold rallied a hard $23 to 938 and came close to testing the next critical 950/955 resistance zone. Above there would open up potential towards 1000/oz next.

FX was likewise mixed in terms of the risk trades. EUR/USD lost a modest -20 pips and was sitting near 1.29 at the close. The yen crosses were bid though and USD/JPY added 45 pips to 90.40/45 while EUR/JPY was up about 40 points into the 116.60/70 zone. USD/CAD tested near the week's highs by 1.2530 as another massive build in oil inventories led to some CAD weakness. The pair slipped in the latter part of the session and ended about -75 pips lower near the 1.24 mark. Oil plunged nearly -$2 to $36/bbl on the stockpile build.

Upcoming Economic Data Releases (Asia Session)  prev  est

  • 2/11 23:50  JN  Domestic CGPI (MoM)  JAN  -1.20%  -0.60%
  • 2/11 23:50  JN  Domestic CGPI (YoY)  JAN  1.10%  0.30%
  • 2/12 0:00  AU  Consumer Inflation Expectation  FEB  2.70%  - -
  • 2/12 0:30  AU  Employment Change  JAN  -1.2K  -18.0K
  • 2/12 0:30  AU  Unemployment Rate  JAN  4.50%  4.70%
  • 2/12 0:30  AU  Participation Rate  JAN  65.00%  64.90%
  • 2/12 0:30  AU  NAB Business Confidence  4Q  -7  - -