Daily Forex Snapshots

Asian Session - Japan Trade Data Drops

May 23, 2008 10:04 AM CEST

G10 Advancers and Decliners vs USD

	AUD	0.37
	SEK	0.07
	JPY	0.04
	DKK	0.03
	CHF	0.02
	EUR	0.02
	CAD	-0.01
	NZD	-0.06
	NOK	-0.10
	GBP	-0.18

Global Indexes

Current Level

% Change

Nikkei 225 Index	14,012.20	+ 0.24
Hang Seng Index	24,759.98	- 1.13
Shanghai Index	3,473.09	- 0.36
FTSE futures	6,163.50	- 0.12
CAC futures	4,968.00	- 0.50
SMI Futures	7,553.00	- 0.35
DJIA futures	12,577.00	- 0.30

World Markets

Current Level

% Change

Gold	920.65	- 0.13
Silver	18.04	+ 0.27
VIX	18.05	- 2.90
Crude wti	131.94	+ 0.86
USD Index	72.26	+ 0.50

Todays Calender

Estimates

Country / GMT

PMI Manufacturing (May Prov.)	50.5	50.7	EZ / 9.00
PMI Services (May Prov.)	51.7	52.0	EZ / 9.00
PMI Composite (May Prov.)	51.5	51.9	EZ / 9.00
GDP (Q1 2nd Estimate) q/q(y/y)	0.4%(+2.5%	0.4%(+2.5%	UK / 9.30
Index of Services (Mar) 3m/3m	0.5%	0.3%	UK / 9.30
Existing Home Sales (Apr)	4,850k	4,930k	US / 15.00

Currency Tech

AUDUSD
R 3: 0.9826
R 2: 0.9723
R 1: 0.9618
CURRENT: 0.9595
S 1: 0.9511
S 2: 0.9392
S 3: 0.9291

EURJPY
R 3: 164.98
R 2: 164.51
R 1: 163.88
CURRENT: 163.40
S 1: 162.26
S 2: 160.79
S 3: 160.14

USDSGD
R 3: 1.3850
R 2: 1.3774
R 1: 1.3732
CURRENT: 1.3608
S 1: 1.3633
S 2: 1.3571
S 3: 1.3554

Market Brief

Usd was range bound in Asia session and a lack of influential data kept traders sidelined. EurUsd for the majority of the session traded between 1.5720 -1.5740. AudUsd was able to reverse its slide off of the 0.9540 support and rallied back towards 0.9600. Crude prices finally sold off a bit and took energy lower, while the 10 year Treasury note had a bad day, with its yield touching 3.94% at one point.

Thursday saw some rebound in the market, after the two days of selling, but gains were relatively modest. Seven of the ten economic sectors closed higher, led by Consumer Staples (+1.1%) and Financials (+0.9%), with Energy (-1.1%) the main loser. Earnings were a positive catalyst for the market on the day. Asian markets are mixed this morning, with the Nikkei up 0.3%, the Hang Seng down 0.5% and the MSCI A-P is lower by 0.5%. Commodity producers led declines, as crude prices came off, while financials were also weaker on the whole

Japanese Trade data headlines looked firm with Exports growing at 4.0% y/y in April and imports increased 11.9%, but exports and imports both fell in real terms. In addition regional data showed that export volume is now slowing not only with the US but also with the EU and Asia. It seems that the decoupling theory will be put to the test.

In Europe the markets will be watching for the PMI (flash) surveys which are expected to point to a sharp slowdown in GDP growth in Q2 after Q1’s stronger than expected 0.7% q/q expansion. In addition, the surveys are likely to suggest that pipeline inflationary pressures are still growing. In the UK, Q1 GDP (2nd estimates) will be released. The initial data showed that the economy has already slowed fairly sharply, even before the full effect of the credit crunch has been felt.

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