The new week began on a daunting note as fears of an outbreak of the swine flu from Mexico sent the Yen and US Dollar higher as traders fled to the safe haven currencies.
Reports out of Mexico stated that the flu had already claimed over 100 victims with possibly 1000 more infected has sent the global community into a panic mode with fears a pandemic could be around the corner. With cases discovered in NY and a slew of other possible cases in everywhere from France to New Zealand, the first trade day in Asia saw stocks fall and US stock futures get crushed as investors fled riskier assets. USD/JPY opened almost 50 pips lower than Friday's close and fall to 95.52 lows not seen since March. The Yen crosses all followed, with EUR/JPY opening lower and dropping from those opening level highs of 128.29 to 127.02 low. All Yen crosses followed the lead and were sold throughout the session. Conversely, the US Dollar also made gains as a safe haven as EUR/USD started the session at highs near 1.3247 and just melted to 1.3258ish levels prior to the London open. The Dollar gains were also very apparent in Australia and New Zealand as the AUD/USD dropped from near 72.10 to just under 71.00, and the NZD/USD dropped from just under 0.5700 to a low of .5624. Look for this story to continue to play out as NY wakes up to the news with investors looking for safety......
Upcoming Economic Data Releases (London Session):
| 4/27/2009 | 6:00 | GE | Import Price Index (MoM) | MAR | -0.10% | -0.10% |
| 4/27/2009 | 6:00 | GE | Import Price Index (YoY) | MAR | -6.40% | -6.50% |
| 4/27/2009 | 6:10 | GE | GfK Consumer Confidence Survey | MAY | 2.4 | 2.3 |
| 4/27/2009 | 8:30 | UK | BBA Loans for House Purchase | MAR | 28179 | - - |
| 4/27/2009 | 8:30 | UK | Bank of England to Release Quarterly APF Report | 27-Apr | ||
| 4/27/2009 | 10:45 | EC | ECB's Trichet Speaks at Chatham House Conference, New York Fed | 27-Apr |
