Quote:
‘Buy the best you can afford. In a year or two, you’ll forget what you paid and you’ll have an object you love.’ Benjamin Edwards III (1922-2009)
The News:
Toyota Motor Corp. set to recall 500K Prius hybrid cars.
The Numbers:
Greenwich Mean Time, with expectations and previous figures in brackets.
(22:00) AU Reserve Bank of Australia 50th anniversary symposium, Sydney; says central banks may need to become more pro-active in dealing with asset bubbles. ECB’s Trichet is leaving this meeting early heading for a European Council special meeting ahead of EU leaders’ regular summit meeting Thursday.
00:01 GB January BRC Retail Sales Monitor –0.7% in value, worst in 15 years, versus +4.2% Y/Y December.
00:01 GB January BRC House Price Balance 32% versus 30% December.
03:45 JP auction result of 30-year JGB; average yield 2.305%, stop 2.308%; bid-to-cover 3.87.
06:00 JP January Machine Tool Orders +192.0% Y/Y versus +63.4% December.
07:00 DE December Trade Balance +€13.5B, Current Account +€20.6B, versus +€14.4B and +€18.1B November.
09:30 GB December Trade Balance (-£7.0B to -£6.5B, Non-EU -£3.4B to -£2.9B, versus -£6.8B and -£3.0B November).
10:30 GB auction result of £2b 4.50% 2034 Gilt (first since the end of QE).
15:00 US December Wholesale Inventories (-0.8% to +1.0% versus +1.5% November).
23:50 JP December Machine Orders (Mizuho Securities +8.9% M/M, -10.8% Y/Y, versus –11.3% and –20.5% Nov).
23:50 JP January Domestic CGPI (Mizuho Securities +0.1% M/M, -2.3% Y/Y, versus +0.1% and –3.9% December).
23:50 JP Q4 Housing Loans (versus +0.8% Y/Y Q3).
The Psychology:
STUPID – Spain, Turkey, UK, Portugal, Ireland and Dubai.
The Risk:
The US National Weather Service issued another winter storm warning due noon today East Coast.
Today’s most interesting chart: Spot Palladium
‘Hammer’ candle against the daily Ichimoku ‘cloud’.
