{"id":1790,"date":"2009-05-05T15:38:42","date_gmt":"2009-05-05T20:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/fx\/?p=1790"},"modified":"2009-05-05T15:38:42","modified_gmt":"2009-05-05T20:38:42","slug":"fundamental-outlook-at-1400-gmt-edt-0400-29","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/2009\/05\/05\/fundamental-outlook-at-1400-gmt-edt-0400-29\/","title":{"rendered":"Fundamental Outlook at 1400 GMT (EDT + 0400)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #888888;\">By GCI Fx Research<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u20ac<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The euro moved weakened vis-\u00e0-vis the U.S. dollar today as the single currency tested bids around the US$ 1.3280 level and was capped around the US$ 1.3440 level.\u00a0 Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke testified today and said the U.S. economy should start growing later this year, the most optimistic assessment he has made in several quarters.\u00a0 Nonetheless, he said the economic recovery will coincide with \u201cfurther sizable job losses\u201d over the coming months.\u00a0 Bernanke estimates the economy may climb \u201csomewhere\u201d in the 9% range, contrary to many private sector forecasts that see unemployment climbing to 10%.\u00a0 Current private sector forecasts also see the economy contracting up to 3% in the current second quarter.\u00a0 Bernanke said \u201cthe pace of contraction may be slowing\u201d and said the housing market has evidenced some signs of bottoming while consumer spending improved in the first quarter.\u00a0 Data released in the U.S. today saw April ISM services sector activity contract with the headline index printing at 43.7, up from 40.8 in March. Sub-indices saw the new orders index improve to 47.0 while the employment index improved to 32.3. Bernanke also indicated there have been some indications of improvements in easing credit strains in the economy.\u00a0 The big news this week will be the results on banks\u2019 stress tests on Thursday.\u00a0 There is now chatter that up to ten banks will be requested to firm up their balance sheets with additional capital.\u00a0 Bernanke said problems banks will have six months to implement \u201ccomprehensive capital plans for establishing the required buffers\u201d to protect against future losses\u201d or they will need to obtain assistance from the government.\u00a0 In eurozone news, French President Sarkozy is seeking a stronger European Union role on bank regulation.\u00a0 German Chancellor Merkel reported she is opposed to take hikes until the financial and economic crisis are over.\u00a0 Data released in the eurozone today saw March industrial producer prices register their sharpest decline in 22 years, off 0.7% m\/m and 3.1% y\/y.\u00a0 The European Central Bank is expected to reduce its main refinancing rate target to 1.0% from 1.25% on Thursday.\u00a0 Euro bids are cited around the US$ 1.2765 level.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a5\/ CNY<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The yen depreciated vis-\u00e0-vis the U.S. dollar today as the greenback tested offers around the \u00a599.20 level and was supported around the \u00a598.60 level.\u00a0 Prime Minister Aso reported \u201cJapan and Germany are the biggest economic nations in Europe on the one side and Asia on the other side. And that&#8217;s why we both must carry a big responsibility in the international community.\u201d\u00a0 He added \u201ca lot of financial means will be used in the recovery of the economy.\u201d\u00a0 Japan\u2019s Golden Week holidays conclude today and liquidity should return to normal overnight.\u00a0 The Nikkei 225 yesterday stock index will next reopen at \u00a58,977.37.\u00a0 U.S. dollar offers are cited around the \u00a5104.15 level.\u00a0 The euro moved lower vis-\u00e0-vis the yen as the single currency tested bids around the \u00a5131.50 level and was capped around the \u00a5132.80 level.\u00a0 The British pound moved higher vis-\u00e0-vis the yen as sterling tested offers around the \u00a5149.85 level while the Swiss franc moved lower vis-\u00e0-vis the yen and tested bids around the \u00a587.00 figure. In Chinese news, the U.S. dollar closed at CNY 6.8190 in the over-the-counter market, down from CNY 6.8225.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u20a4<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The British pound appreciated vis-\u00e0-vis the U.S. dollar today as cable tested offers around the US$ 1.5160 level and was supported around the $1.4980 level.\u00a0 Sterling was the main moved in the markets today, outperforming most other currencies.\u00a0 Data released in the U.K. saw April construction PMI improved to 38.1\u00a0 CBI\u2019s quarterly survey of small and medium-sized enterprises\u2019 trends reported those firms experienced a decline in output and orders at the fast rate in two decades in the three months to April.\u00a0\u00a0 Cable bids are cited around the US$ 1.4735 level.\u00a0 The euro moved lower vis-\u00e0-vis the British pound as the single currency tested bids around the \u20a40.8825 level and was capped around the \u20a40.8930 level.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Daily Market Commentary<\/strong><\/em> provided by\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/gcitrading.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>GCI Financial Ltd<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>GCI Financial Ltd (\u201dGCI\u201d) is a regulated securities and commodities trading firm, specializing in online Foreign Exchange (\u201dForex\u201d) brokerage. GCI executes billions of dollars per month in foreign exchange transactions alone. In addition to Forex, GCI is a primary market maker in Contracts for Difference (\u201dCFDs\u201d) on shares, indices and futures, and offers one of the fastest growing online CFD trading services. GCI has over 10,000 clients worldwide, including individual traders, institutions, and money managers. GCI provides an advanced, secure, and comprehensive online trading system. Client funds are insured and held in a separate customer account. In addition, GCI Financial Ltd maintains Net Capital in excess of minimum regulatory requirements.<\/p>\n<p>DISCLAIMER: GCI\u2019s Daily Market Commentary is provided for informational purposes only. The information contained in these reports is gathered from reputable news sources and is not intended to be U.S.ed as investment advice. GCI assumes no responsibility or liability from gains or losses incurred by the information herein contained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By GCI Financial &#8211; The yen depreciated vis-\u00e0-vis the U.S. dollar today as the greenback tested offers around the \u00a599.20&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1790\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}