The week starts without major releases. German industrial production and Swiss retail sales will stand out. Note that the weak, yet expected Non-Farm Payrolls will still echo in the markets. The dollar enjoyed some strength against the majors last week but lost ground to the commodity currencies.
OK, let’s see the events:
Japan starts the day with a few figures: Current Account rose to a surplus of 899.8 billion yens in January as exports surge 40.6%. The Economy Watchers Sentiment climbed to 42.1 points — a five-month high.
In Switzerland, the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.1%. The more important release is Retail Sales – after a leap of 4.7%, a strong rise of 2.4% is expected this time.
In Europe, the Sentix Investor Confidence ticked up from -8.2 to -7.48, still in the negative zone, showing pessimism. German Industrial Production rose 0.6% after sliding by 2.6% last month. This event usually rocks the Euro. For more on the Euro’s week, read the EUR/USD forecast. I also recommend catching up with Casey Stubbs’ analyses.
In Britain, MPC member Kate Barker spoke in a conference. Barker is about to step down from position soon, so she feels more free to speak. The Pound has seen better days than these. For the events and a technical analysis, check out GBP/USD forecast.
For those of you trading the loonie, an important indicator is due today: Housing Starts rose more than expected to 196,700K. Will USD/CAD continue towards parity? There are technical barriers on the way. Check out the USD/CAD forecast for more.
That’s it for today. Happy forex trading!
Yohay Elam is the owner of Forex Crunch, a blog about the foreign exchange market. It includes tutorials, basics of the forex market, daily and weekly forex analysis, technical analysis, forex software posts, and whatever is related to Forex.
Article copyrighted by Yohay Elam. Content published with author's permission.
