The big news to start the week here in Asia was Japan's record current account deficit of 172 billion Yen, the worst data in 15 years helped to fuel Yen selling, pushing USD/JPY to just north of 98.50. Earlier in the session, the Yen was gaining a bit of ground on profit taking from Friday's highs when the dollar was aggressively bought when the US NFP was not deemed as bad as anticipated. Regardless of the day's moves, the USD/JPY was poised to end the session in close proximity to the open.
Against the Euro, the Yen lost ground early, as EUR/JPY peaked just above 125.00 before looking to end the session lower at 124.30 levels. The EUR/USD saw some energized buying as investors continued to view the recent comments by ECB board member Stark who stated basically that continued rate cuts are not the solution for the current crisis and in fact may be a detriment. Traders see this as a sign that the ECB may pause cutting rates, and this propelled the EUR/USD to 1.2726 after humble beginnings at 1.2652. With a light week in Euro Zone data, the talking heads of the ECB should keep the movement interesting.
Gold had a wild ride, initially falling out of the gate over $6 to $933.85 before a bounce to $941.95 registered a session high. Subsequently, the pair slid to the $935 area before easing out the session near $938. Not much data today in Europe, but as usual it's the news that is helping drive the markets.
Upcoming Economic Data Releases (London Session):
| 3/9/2009 | 7:15 | SZ | Unemployment Rate | FEB | 3.30% | 3.40% |
| 3/9/2009 | 7:15 | SZ | Unemployment Rate (sa) | FEB | 2.90% | 3.10% |
| 3/9/2009 | 7:30 | FR | Bank of France Bus. Sentiment | FEB | 70 | 68 |
| 3/9/2009 | 9:00 | EC | ECB's Stark Speaks in Luxembourg | 9-Mar | ||
| 3/9/2009 | 9:30 | EC | Sentix Investor Confidence | MAR | -36.1 | -38 |
