Daily Market Outlook from ACFX 16/1/2013

[Atlas CapitalFx]

Daily Market Outlook

Posted by on January 16, 2013

Important Financial Indicators of the day Forecast Previous
USD 15:30 (GMT) Core CPI m/m 0.2% 1.1%
Currencies

EUR/USD The euro’s 8.4 percent gain against the U.S. dollar in the past six months is posing a fresh threat to the European economy just as it shows signs of escaping the debt crisis, said Jean-Claude Juncker, who leads the group of euro-area finance ministers.
The European currency dropped as much as 0.9 percent after Juncker’s comments, the biggest intraday decline since Jan. 3. The euro traded at $1.3306 at 5 p.m. New York time, down 0.6 percent. It touched an intraday high of $1.3404 on Jan. 14, the strongest since Feb. 29, 2012.

USD/JPY The yen headed for its biggest two- day gain in eight months amid speculation the Bank of Japan (8301) will fail to impress investors with extra policy measures at its Jan. 21-22 meeting.
The yen rose 0.7 percent to 88.16 per dollar as of 2:15
p.m. in Tokyo, following a 0.8 percent jump yesterday. It would
be the sharpest back-to-back gain since May 18. The Japanese
currency reached 89.67 on Jan. 14, a level unseen since June
2010. The euro slid 0.1 percent to $1.3289 after dropping 0.6
percent yesterday. It touched $1.3404 on Jan. 14, the strongest
since Feb. 29. The currency fell 0.9 percent to 117.14 yen.

USD/CAD The Canadian dollar weakened the most in six months against the yen on speculation the central bank may limit policies to devalue the currency after Japan’s economy minister said the country faces economic risks.
The Canadian dollar, called the loonie for the image of the aquatic bird on the C$1 coin, was little changed at 98.43 cents per U.S. dollar at 5:07 p.m. in Toronto, after declining the most since Jan. 4. One loonie buys $1.0160.

Commodities

Oil traded near the lowest level in almost a week in New York after U.S. crude stockpiles increased and the World Bank cut its economic growth forecasts.
Crude for February delivery was at $93.51 a barrel, up 23 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 1:46 p.m. Singapore time. The contract declined 0.9 percent to $93.28 yesterday, the biggest drop since Dec. 21 and the lowest close since Jan. 9.
Brent for February settlement, which expires today, was up
37 cents at $110.67 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures
Europe exchange. The more active March contract rose 35 cents to
$109.98. The front-month European benchmark contract was at a
premium of $17.16 to WTI. It closed at $17.02 yesterday, the
narrowest spread since Sept. 19.

Gold advanced for a third day toward
a two-week high as expectations that global policy makers will
need to stimulate growth boosted demand for a store of value.
Platinum fell from the most expensive in three months.
Spot gold gained as much as 0.3 percent to $1,684.75 an ounce and traded at $1,682.45 at 12:48 p.m. in Singapore. The metal reached $1,685.25 yesterday, the costliest since Jan. 3, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the previous day that while the U.S. economy is responding to monetary stimulus there is still “quite a ways to go.”

Equities

Asian stocks fell, with the regional
benchmark index heading for its first loss in three days, amid
signs markets are overbought. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average slid
by the most in eight months.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index (MXAP) slid 0.8 percent to 131.61 as of 3:03 p.m. Tokyo time, with almost three stocks falling for each that rose. The gauge has rallied since November after reports showed China’s economy is recovering and Japanese shares gained on speculation Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will pursue more aggressive policies to stimulate the world’s third-largest economy

European stocks were little changed as concern that debt-ceiling talks will harm the
U.S. economy and a report showing weaker-than-forecast German growth
offset Spain’s better-than-targeted sale of debt.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index (SXXP) lost less than 0.1 percent to 285.97 at the close of trading. The measure has still gained 2.3 percent since the start of the year after U.S. lawmakers agreed on a budget, avoiding tax increases and spending cuts that threatened to push the world’s biggest economy into a recession.

U.S stocks advanced, rebounding from earlier losses in the Standard & Poor’s
500 Index, as a rally in retail and transportation companies
overshadowed concern about discussions on raising the debt ceiling.

The S&P 500 rose 0.1 percent to 1,472.34 at 4 p.m. New York time, after falling as much as 0.5 percent earlier. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 27.57 points, or 0.2 percent, to 13,534.89. The Dow Jones Transportation Average gained 0.7 percent to a record 5,639.64. About 5.8 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, or 5.7 percent.