The London session saw EUR give up some of its overnight gains as economic data in the region continued to print on the weak side.
The eurozone trade balance for January came in at a dismal -10.5B from -1.7B the prior month. This was well below the expected -9.0B and is just shy of the -11.1B all time low set back in January of last year.
EUR/USD shed about -50 pips and was sitting near 1.3640 just ahead of the NY open.

The yen crosses remained bid as stocks continued to push higher. European bourses have rallied +2% on average while US stock futures are up more than +3% ostensibly on the Geithner $1 trillion plan to bring the private sector in on the bad bank asset purchases. USD/JPY jumped about 70 pips in London trading towards 96.70 while EUR/JPY was about 50 points higher near the 132 area.

The price action in the NY session now will likely continue to be driven by risk. More details regarding the Geithner plan are expected to emerge and we also have some fresh US housing data on deck. Existing home sales at 1000am ET are expected to slip modestly to 4.45M in February after a 4.49M print the prior month. Look for details from Geithner, who is expected to speak at 845am ET, to matter more and for the reaction in equity prices to drive FX once again.

Upcoming Economic Data Releases (NY Session) prior expected

  • 3/23 12:30 GMT CA Leading Indicators MoM FEB -0.80% -0.90%

  • 3/23 12:45 GMT US Geithner expected to speak on latest ''bad asset'' plan

  • 3/23 14:00 GMT US Existing Home Sales FEB 4.49M 4.45M

  • 3/23 14:00 GMT US Existing Home Sales MoM FEB -5.30% -0.90%

  • 3/23 14:00 GMT US Fed's Rosengren Testifies at House Panel

  • 3/23 17:00 GMT GE Merkel Speaks at BDB Banking Lobby Event

  • 3/23 22:00 GMT US Geithner, Lagarde, Rudd Address WSJ Conference