Quite an action packed day here in Asia as the first decline in Australian GDP in almost eight years sent the markets in motion, with AUD/USD dropping a full handle and in turn pulling the Euro down with it while helping push the US Dollar higher. After a nice run of decent data out of Australia, the Aussies finally hit a bad note, and the ripples set the stage for the day as the AUD/USD dropped from 0.6386 to just near 0.6286 in a matter of minutes.
EUR/USD soon followed and after a series of stops, completed its fall from 1.2547 to 1.2456 in a sweeping move. The pair eventually clawed its way back to 1.2530 levels as London session took their seats to trade. The bottom in Euro represented a 3 month low for the pair. EUR/JPY was dragged down by the Euro move as it dropped from 125.50 to 122.35 before a rebound to new highs over 123.70. USD/JPY showed more Dollar strength, driving from 98.13 to just through 98.70 as of the time of this writing. It has become clear that the Yen has lost favor as a safe haven as of late, and the Dollar has been benefitting from that greatly.
We have some PMI data out of a few European countries later today, but the big sparks will be for the BOE and ECB rate decisions on Thursday......
Upcoming Economic Data Releases (London Session):
| 3/4 | 8:50 | FR | PMI Services | FEB F | 40.1 | 40.1 |
| 3/4 | 8:55 | GE | PMI Services | FEB F | 41.6 | 41.6 |
| 3/4 | 9:00 | EC | PMI Services | FEB F | 38.9 | 38.9 |
| 3/4 | 9:00 | EC | PMI Composite | FEB F | 36.2 | 36.2 |
| 3/4 | 9:30 | UK | PMI Services | FEB | 42.5 | 41.9 |
| 3/4 | 9:30 | UK | Official Reserves (Changes) | FEB | -$166M | - - |
| 3/4 | EC | European Commission Proposes New Financial Oversight Structure | 4-Mar |
