{"id":795,"date":"2009-03-06T15:20:12","date_gmt":"2009-03-06T20:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/fx\/?p=795"},"modified":"2009-03-06T15:20:12","modified_gmt":"2009-03-06T20:20:12","slug":"fundamental-outlook-at-1500-gmt-est-0500-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/2009\/03\/06\/fundamental-outlook-at-1500-gmt-est-0500-16\/","title":{"rendered":"Fundamental Outlook at 1500 GMT (EST + 0500)"},"content":{"rendered":"

By GCI Fx Research<\/span><\/p>\n

\u20ac<\/strong><\/p>\n

The euro appreciated vis-\u00e0-vis the U.S. dollar today as the single currency tested offers around the US$ 1.2750 level and was supported around the $1.2530 level.\u00a0\u00a0 As expected, the U.S. February non-farm payrolls number was a disaster as 651,000 Americans lost their jobs last month and the unemployment rate spiked to 8.1% from 7.6%.\u00a0 Average hourly earnings were up 0.2% and the average workweek was unchanged at 33.3 hours.\u00a0 Today\u2019s non-farm payroll print came in right around forecasts and was consistent with the ADP print.\u00a0 The big news, however, was a sharp downward revision to December\u2019s and January\u2019s non-farm payrolls results of a cumulative 161,000 jobs.\u00a0 The U.S. economy has now shed 4.4 million jobs since the recession officially began.\u00a0 The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation yesterday indicated it may become insolvent this year on account of anticipated bank failures.\u00a0 The U.S. Senate is today deliberating an emergency US$ 500 billion loan to the FDIC that would serve as a backstop.\u00a0 In eurozone news, European Central Bank member Bini Smaghi said if the current rate cuts end \u201cat a higher level\u2026 it is more likely that the interest rate will remain at that above-zero floor level for some time.\u201d\u00a0 He added this would incentivize lenders to invest in long-term assets.\u00a0 The ECB yesterday trimmed its key interest rate target to 1.5%, the lowest rate ever.\u00a0\u00a0 It is likely the ECB will resort to some sort of quantitative easing to expand the money supply.\u00a0 Data released in Germany today saw 2008 corporate insolvencies off 4.5% y\/y.\u00a0\u00a0 Euro bids are cited around the US$ 1.2385 level.<\/p>\n

\u00a5\/ CNY<\/strong><\/p>\n

The yen appreciated vis-\u00e0-vis the U.S. dollar today as the greenback tested bids around the \u00a596.55 level and was capped around the \u00a598.50 level.\u00a0 The U.S. dollar sputtered lower after yesterday\u2019s massive sell-off in U.S. equity markets and an ensuing sell-off in Asian markets.\u00a0 Traders drove the greenback lower ahead of the terrible U.S. February non-farm payrolls report.\u00a0 Data released in Japan overnight saw the trade balance print at -\u00a5131 billion between 1-20 February, down from a \u00a5413 billion surplus one year ago.\u00a0 The Nikkei 225 stock index lost 3.50% to close at \u00a57,173.10.\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 offers around the \u00a5123.90 level and was supported around the \u00a5122.35 level.\u00a0 The British pound moved lower vis-\u00e0-vis the yen as sterling tested bids around the \u00a5137.25 level while the Swiss franc moved higher vis-\u00e0-vis the yen and tested offers around the \u00a584.90 level.\u00a0 The Chinese yuan appreciated vis-\u00e0-vis the U.S. dollar as the greenback closed at CNY 6.8395 in the over-the-counter market, down from CNY 6.8409.\u00a0 People\u2019s Bank of China reported it will continue to reform the yuan\u2019s exchange rate this year and \u201ckeep it at a reasonable and balanced level.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u20a4<\/strong><\/p>\n

The British pound depreciated vis-\u00e0-vis the U.S. dollar today as cable tested bids around the US$ 1.4075 level and was capped around the $1.4305 level.\u00a0 Data released in the U.K. today saw February producer price inflation rise +0.1% m\/m and 3.1% y\/y, the lowest annual increase since September 2007.\u00a0 Also, PPI input prices were up 0.6% m\/m, defying expectations of a pullback.\u00a0\u00a0 U.K. government minister Malloch-Brown reported the depreciation in sterling has not been an \u201cengineered policy\u201d and said the G20 meeting in London on 2 April will see the U.K. call for measures to monitor protectionist policies.\u00a0 Construction sector output was off 7% q\/q in Q4 and this helped cause GDP to contract 1.5%, the largest quarterly contraction since 1980.\u00a0 Cable bids are cited around the US$ 1.3740 level.\u00a0 The euro moved higher vis-\u00e0-vis the British pound as the single currency tested offers around the \u20a40.8995 level and was supported around the \u20a40.8860 level.<\/p>\n

Daily Market Commentary provided by GCI Financial Ltd<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By GCI Financial – The euro appreciated vis-\u00e0-vis the U.S. dollar today as the single currency tested offers around the US$ 1.2750 level and was supported around the $1.2530 level. As expected, the U.S. February non-farm payrolls number was a disaster…<\/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-795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795","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=795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}