London Session Recap

Daily Forex Fundamentals | Written by Forex.com | Aug 21 08 12:07 GMT |

The buck traded sideways against most of the majors in the London session as the market awaits the results of US economic data out this morning. PMI manufacturing surveys out of the Euro-zone for August came in mixed overnight with France slipping to 45.1 from 47.1, Germany dipping to 49.9 from 50.9, and the Euro-zone composite increasing to 47.5 from 47.4 prior.

EUR/USD initially traded up in the session, towards a high near 1.4830. The uninspiring data, however, brought the pair back down towards a close near 1.4775 -- where it initially opened London trading. GBP/USD was a touch lower, closing near 1.8630 after opening the session around the 1.8650 mark. This was despite UK retail sales surprising to the upside with a 0.8% gain in July. The prior month was revised lower, however, and this took the annual rate to 2.1% from 2.2%.

Oil prices jumped nearly $1 towards $117.25/bbl at the London close. This helped USD/CAD trade about 10 pips lower after a 1.0585 open. The decline was contained as markets awaited the release of Canadian CPI at the start of the NY session. Though core CPI came in at a lower than expected 0.1% -- leaving the annual rate at 1.5% -- further gains in oil towards $118.25/bbl has USD/CAD trading near 1.0540 currently.

Upcoming Economic Data Releases (NY Session) Prior Estimate

* 8/21/2008 12:30 US Initial Jobless Claims 16-Aug 450K 440K
* 8/21/2008 12:30 US Continuing Claims 9-Aug 3417K 3405K
* 8/21/2008 14:00 US Philadelphia Fed. AUG -16.3 -12.6
* 8/21/2008 14:00 US Leading Indicators JUL -0.10% -0.20%

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