The trade week in Asia ended with the Euro being spanked like the New York Yankees in their home opener, as the European currency dropped a full handle against the Dollar in anticipation of a speech by ECB President Trichet, and then fell to April lows as his speech progressed.
EUR/USD collapsed from its 1.3197 perch and hit ground near 1.3066 as traders tried to decipher Trichet's comments although he vowed that the ECB would do everything within its power to restore the public confidence in the battered economy.
EUR/JPY followed suite, dropping from 131.44 to just under 130.00 as Trichet ended his commentary with comments applauding recent US comments that favored a strong dollar globally. USD/JPY couldn't maintain its session highs near 99.76, but nonetheless was up by about 20 pips for the session as it looked to close it out near 99.50. The US Dollar actually made gains across the rest of the globe as well, as USD/CAD looked to end the session near 1.2130, about 60 pips higher, USD/CHF looked to end out the session about 80 pips higher near 1.1540, and the GBP/USD dropped about 60 pips to 1.48600. The overall market anticipation is for the last tranche of earnings data out of the US tomorrow, including, heavy hitters Citibank and General Electric. Enjoy the weekend.....
Upcoming Economic Data Releases (London Session):
| 4/17/2009 | 7:15 | SZ | Retail Sales (Real) (YoY) | FEB | 1.20% | -0.20% |
| 4/17/2009 | 8:00 | SZ | SNB's Roth Holds Speech in Bern | 17-Apr | ||
| 4/17/2009 | 8:00 | SZ | SNB's Raggenbass Holds Speech in Bern | 17-Apr | ||
| 4/17/2009 | 9:00 | EC | Euro-Zone Trade Balance | FEB | -10.5B | -5.0B |
| 4/17/2009 | 9:00 | EC | Euro-Zone Trade Balance sa | FEB | -5.5B | -3.5B |
| 4/17/2009 | 9:00 | EC | Construction Output SA MoM | FEB | 1.30% | - - |
| 4/17/2009 | 9:00 | EC | Construction Output WDA YoY | FEB | -9.10% | - - |
