- New Zealand Q4 CPI -0.3% QoQ, +0.4% expected
- Australian economy loses over 29,000 jobs, +10,000 expected; participation rate slipped to 65.2% thereby keeping the unemployment rate steady at 5.2%
- Fears rise over fate of two big European banks
- Brazil lowers interest rates by 50bps to 10.50%
- UK consumer confidence dips again, now near record lows
- Japanese press: Nowotny expresses tolerance for EUR fall
- China considers relaxing capital control rules for banks
- Oil prices rises 1% as stockpiles fall, contrary to expectations
- Regional stockmarkets +1% on average; Gold $1664/oz
Fairly quiet session compared with earlier in the week. The NZD and AUD fell after economic data and the EUR/USD tried and failed to take out an important resistance level.
NZD/USD was the first mover, falling sharply from .8070 to .8020 on the release of much lower than expected CPI data which will have many analysts reassessing their rate expectations. AUD/USD traded quietly during this phase but also fell sharply, from 1.0430 to 1.0380, after the release of jobs data which was worse than expected but not as bad as the headline number might suggest. This is because part-time work was replaced by full-time. Ranges: 1.0378/1.0437
EUR/USD traded quietly near its 1.2860 NY closing level for much of the morning. It tried the downside after the Aussie jobs data but rebounded quickly. An attempt to take out large stops above 1.2880 failed in afternoon trade, after the buyers ran into very solid corporate selling interest. Ranges: 1.2840/78
Cable 1.5421/45; USD/JPY 76.70/84; EUR/CHF 1.2070/85
