What's coming up on the calendar front for today
Howdy, everyone! How're you all doing today? Hope everyone is having a good day. So far in trading, there has been quite a bit of action as the JPY strengthened following the BOJ's "tapering" announcement here.
Most other major pairs remain in a tight range of trading, as the Japanese yen leads the way on the day.
Anyway, here is what's coming up in the European trading session today:
0645 GMT - Switzerland Dec unemployment rate
Not a major data point, as Swiss unemployment rate has been low since ages ago. Last month's reading was the lowest since 2012.
0700 GMT - Germany Nov industrial production data
0700 GMT - Germany Nov trade/current account balance data
0745 GMT - France Nov trade/current account balance data
Some minor data points coming from two of the Eurozone's major nations. The euro has had a lacklustre trading session so far today - so data points here could add to the bias for buyers/sellers if they are struggling to find conviction today. But again, these are data points that are hardly looked upon - though they provide an early glimpse into the Eurozone's trade data.
0800 GMT - SNB Dec foreign currency reserves
0815 GMT - Switzerland Nov retail sales
More Swiss data, not all too important in affecting the CHF price action. I've emphasised it before and I will again, SNB's comments/views have more weightage on impacting the CHF than data points like these - so not a market mover.
0900 GMT - Italy Nov unemployment rate
1000 GMT - Eurozone Nov unemployment rate
Italy's reading isn't all too important, another minor data point. Prior reading here was at 11.1%, and today's expected reading is for a drop to 11.0%. Meanwhile, Eurozone unemployment rate is expected to fall further to 8.7% following prior reading of 8.8%. The unemployment rate has been steadily falling, so as long as it stays within a couple of point percentages within market expectation - it's nothing too alarming to affect the EUR.
1100 GMT - US Dec NFIB small business optimism index ***
I'm not sure if the NFIB has inadvertently released the data earlier than expected. The report can be found here on their website. The reading is 104.9 vs the expected 107.8. Anyway, it's also another minor data point - this time for the US. It's an index which measures the opinion of small businesses on the economic conditions in the country. Prior month's reading of 107.5 was the highest since 1983. The average monthly index for 2017 was 104.8 - a new record.
That's all for today. A slew of minor data points, so let's see if that'll help shake things up a bit. Hope you all have a great day ahead, and as always good luck with your trading!
