In a trading session that gladly brought more excitement than yesterday, the US Dollar and the Yen both pushed higher as profit taking and the possibility of CIT group filing for bankruptcy sent traders looking for some shelter. After stronger stocks in the US pushed the risk assets higher in NY trading, Asia saw the continuation of the reversal of that move as CIT Group, a large lender to many small businesses in the US announced that there would be no Federal bailout, thus sparking speculation that the company could file for bankruptcy as early as Friday. The moves were relatively orderly as traders took profit from what looked like unsustainable highs in higher yielding assets, with EUR/USD dropping from early levels near 1.4115 to touch a 1.4060 low.
EUR/JPY's move was similar, as the pair fell from early highs above the 133.00 level to drop just below the 132.00 figure for a low.
The markets barely noticed as China released a slew of data, most notably GDP, in which the better than projected 7.9% result was leaked earlier to a Chinese newspaper, thus quashing any elation. USD/JPY favored the Yen, as the pair could not maintain the early high of 94.45 and slipped below 93.80 by day's end. In other data news, the rating agency Fitch came out late in the session and lowered their outlook on New Zealand's AA Plus credit rating, and in effect, pushed the Kiwi dollar off a cliff...NZD/USD did a straight line free fall from the 0.6460 levels to just above the 0.6400 figure in one swift move and subsequently, dropped down through 0.6385 as the misery continued down under. Although the Aussie Dollar was softer against both the dollar and yen, AUD/NZD blasted from 1.2350 levels to flirt with the 1.2500 big figure.
Upcoming Economic Data Releases (London Session) prior expected
| 7/16/2009 | 6:45 | FR | Consumer Price Index (MoM) | JUN | 0.20% | 0.30% |
| 7/16/2009 | 6:45 | FR | Consumer Price Index (YoY) | JUN | -0.30% | -0.40% |
| 7/16/2009 | 6:45 | FR | CPI - EU Harmonised (MoM) | JUN | 0.10% | 0.20% |
| 7/16/2009 | 6:45 | FR | CPI - EU Harmonised (YoY) | JUN | -0.30% | -0.50% |
| 7/16/2009 | 6:45 | FR | CPI Ex Tobacco Index | JUN | 118.18 | 118.48 |
| 7/16/2009 | 9:00 | SZ | ZEW Survey (Expectations) | JUL | 9.7 | - - |
