Investor confidence was back in the markets to start the week in Asia, as traders shunned the safe haven Yen and Dollar and bought riskier assets as evidenced by the huge gains in the Yen crosses as well as Asian equity markets today. With Japan out until Thursday and London out for today, market conditions may have been a bit thinner, but the directions seemed clear as the Yen was clearly victimized by just about every other currency all session long. USD/JPY might have been the calmest of the moves as it glided higher by almost 50 pips to reach a 99.58 high for the day. The cross moves were a tad bit wilder, as EUR/JPY blasted off from the opening lows near 131.67 and landed just under 132.90, and AUD/JPY made a run from 72.60 to just over 73.50 for the day. Traders are once again using the Yen as a ''funding currency'', selling it in order to buy the riskier as well as higher yielding currencies.
Many traders are feeling a little more confident in the markets as late after uplifting US economic data as well as the news that the Swine Flu seems to be sputtering out for now.
As can be expected, the AUD/USD and the USD/CAD both had nice gains, with the Aussie gaining about 80 pips and the Loonie making a similar gain of about 80 pips as well. The EUR/USD drove from 1.3260 levels to just short of 1.3347 as the pair made a strong start to the month. Be aware that this week will bring rate decisions from the RBA as well as the ECB....
Upcoming Economic Data Releases (London Session):
| 5/4/2009 | 6:00 | GE | Retail Sales (MoM) | MAR | -0.20% | 0.20% |
| 5/4/2009 | 6:00 | GE | Retail Sales (YoY) | MAR | -5.30% | -0.30% |
| 5/4/2009 | 7:30 | SZ | SVME-Purchasing Managers Index | APR | 32.6 | 34 |
| 5/4/2009 | 7:50 | FR | PMI Manufacturing | APR F | 40 | 40 |
| 5/4/2009 | 7:55 | GE | PMI Manufacturing | APR F | 35 | 35 |
| 5/4/2009 | 8:00 | EC | PMI Manufacturing | APR F | 36.7 | 36.7 |
| 5/4/2009 | 8:30 | GE | IW-Cologne Economic Institute Presents 2009, 2010 Forecasts | 4-May | ||
| 5/4/2009 | 8:30 | EC | Sentix Investor Confidence | MAY | -35.3 | -28 |
| 5/4/2009 | 9:00 | EC | European Commission Releases Economic Forecasts | 4-May | ||
| 5/4/2009 | 11:00 | EC | ECB's Papademos Speaks at a Conference on the Crisis | 4-May |
