Europe in focus

January 9, 2018

More data set for release today, with Europe publishing the most economic data.

The EUR/USD fell overnight as the Euro showed some signs of weakness. This could be a small pull back to a more natural level, considering the rally that the Euro has had in the last couple of weeks. It hit a peak of $1.20516 early in trading yesterday, then progressively fell throughout the night to its current level of $1.19689. The GBP/USD went on a roller coaster ride overnight, rallying to hit an early high of $1.35850 before falling away to hit session lows of $1.35222, then regained all those losses to hit $1.35843 after which it pulled back slightly to its current level of $1.35679.

The Dow hit highs of 25,380.19 in early trading before stabilising around that level, then deteriorating later in the night, hitting a session low of 25,237.46 before paring back some of those losses to be currently trading at 25.287.40. The Dax was reasonably flat throughout trading, reaching a session high of 13,413.70 not long after it opened. It remained quite stable for the rest of the night, hitting a low of 13,335.00 before recovering to its current trading level of 13,370.65.

Turning to events of today and there is plenty of data set for publication. This includes:

Japan – Average Cash Earnings, Consumer Confidence

Australia – Building Approvals, ANZ Job Advertisements

UK – BRC Retail Sales Monitor

Canada – Housing Starts

US – NFIB Small Business Index, JOLTS Job Openings, IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism

Europe – Swiss Unemployment Rate, Swiss Foreign Currency Reserves, Swiss Retail Sales, German Industrial Production & Trade Balance, French Trade Balance, Italian Unemployment Rate, European Unemployment Rate