It would have made my job writing this a lot easier if the week in Asia ended in some dramatic fashion, but to my dismay, it did quite the opposite, closing out with hardly a whimper. Following a day in NY that saw Wall Street put another notch in the win column, and conversely, the US Dollar post losses, Asia's moves were relatively flat and lackluster with the Yen gaining a slight bit of ground. EUR/USD continued to ease from its 1.3665 NY session highs, the pair slid to 1.3618 before exiting the session close to where it started at 1.3640. The ranges were tight ahead of some important CPI and GDP data later in London, and the ECB seemed a little calmer now that the word is out that all members seem to have reached an accordance on atypical monetary policy easing measures. GBP/USD was in about a 30 pip range for the session so there is not much color I can add to the fact that it was almost monotonous. USD/JPY reached the 96.19 pinnacle of the session early, and hit a low just under the 95.80 55 hour SMA. The EUR/JPY followed a similar path, topping out early over 131.10 as stocks roared higher, but broke through 130.50 on a stop driven slide south before stabilizing a bit higher. The Yen looked to be gaining some steam going into the London Session. Looking past London, the US will close out the week with both CPI and Industrial Production. Have a nice weekend...........
Upcoming Economic Data Releases (London Session) prior expected
| 5/15/2009 | 6:00 | GE | GDP s.a. (QOQ) | 1Q P | -2.10% | -3.00% |
| 5/15/2009 | 6:00 | GE | GDP wda (YoY) | 1Q P | -1.70% | -6.00% |
| 5/15/2009 | 6:00 | GE | GDP nsa (YoY) | 1Q P | -1.60% | -6.50% |
| 5/15/2009 | 6:45 | FR | Non-Farm Payrolls (QoQ) | 1Q P | -0.70% | -0.80% |
| 5/15/2009 | 6:45 | FR | Gross Domestic Product (QoQ) | 1Q P | -1.10% | -1.30% |
| 5/15/2009 | 6:45 | FR | Gross Domestic Product (YoY) | 1Q P | -0.90% | -2.50% |
| 5/15/2009 | 6:45 | FR | Wages (QoQ) | 1Q P | 0.30% | 0.90% |
| 5/15/2009 | 7:15 | SZ | Retail Sales (Real) (YoY) | MAR | -3.80% | - - |
| 5/15/2009 | 9:00 | EC | Euro-Zone CPI (MoM) | APR | 0.40% | 0.40% |
| 5/15/2009 | 9:00 | EC | Euro-Zone CPI (YoY) | APR | 0.60% | 0.60% |
| 5/15/2009 | 9:00 | EC | Euro-Zone GDP s.a. (QoQ) | 1Q A | -1.60% | -2.00% |
| 5/15/2009 | 9:00 | EC | Euro-Zone GDP s.a. (YoY) | 1Q A | -1.50% | -4.10% |
| 5/15/2009 | 9:00 | EC | Euro-Zone CPI - Core (YoY) | APR | 1.50% | 1.60% |
