With investors holding their cards a little bit closer to their chests, the Yen extended recent gains hitting some highs for the month, but looked to exit Asia only slightly higher for the day. With Wall Street taking a hit in NY and the follow through extending to losses in Asian equity markets, traders dropped riskier assets for the perceived safety of the Yen. USD/JPY was at its session highs of 97.66 early, but as work leaked that Chinese exports might disappoint, which in fact they did with a 23% decline, the USD/JPY lost steam, hitting a low for May of 97.13. EUR/JPY dropped to 131.75 after trading near 132.75 earlier. Back in the US after hours, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke started to once again beat the strong US Dollar drum, but to no avail in Asia as the Greenback dropped against the Euro today. EUR/USD, after opening near 1.3580, got as high as 1.3615 and looked to exit the session just under the 1.3600 figure. Against other currencies the Buck remained pretty much unchanged to slightly weaker as AUD/USD, and NZD/USD both pushed higher and USD/CHF and USD/CAD both drifted lower. GBP/USD was in a 65 pip range and looked to be unchanged ahead of a slew of UK data including Trade Balance and Industrial Production.......
Upcoming Economic Data Releases (London Session) prior expected
| 5/12/2009 | 6:00 | GE | Consumer Price Index (MoM) | APR F | -0.10% | 0.00% |
| 5/12/2009 | 6:00 | GE | Consumer Price Index (YoY) | APR F | 0.50% | 0.70% |
| 5/12/2009 | 6:00 | GE | CPI - EU Harmonised (MoM) | APR F | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| 5/12/2009 | 6:00 | GE | CPI - EU Harmonised (YoY) | APR F | 0.70% | 0.70% |
| 5/12/2009 | 6:00 | GE | Wholesale Price Index (MoM) | APR | -0.90% | 0.00% |
| 5/12/2009 | 6:00 | GE | Wholesale price Index (YoY) | APR | -8.00% | -8.20% |
| 5/12/2009 | 6:30 | FR | Bank of France Bus. Sentiment | APR | 73 | 75 |
| 5/12/2009 | 8:30 | UK | Visible Trade Balance GBP/Mn | MAR | -£7315 | -£7200 |
| 5/12/2009 | 8:30 | UK | DCLG UK House Prices (YoY) | MAR | -12.30% | -13.00% |
| 5/12/2009 | 8:30 | UK | Trade Balance Non EU GBP/Mn | MAR | -£3964 | -£4200 |
| 5/12/2009 | 8:30 | UK | Total Trade Balance (GBP/Mln) | MAR | -£3248 | -£3000 |
| 5/12/2009 | 8:30 | UK | Industrial Production (MoM) | MAR | -1.00% | -0.90% |
| 5/12/2009 | 8:30 | UK | Industrial Production (YoY) | MAR | -12.50% | -12.80% |
| 5/12/2009 | 8:30 | UK | Manufacturing Production (MoM) | MAR | -0.90% | -0.80% |
| 5/12/2009 | 8:30 | UK | Manufacturing Production (YoY) | MAR | -13.80% | -14.00% |
