Weekly Forex Market Followup (December 19 - December 23rd 2011)

Key Fundamental Forex Events for the Week of December 19
^th through December 23
^rd The following table lists the key economic data and
other events that came out during the week of December 19
^th through December 23
^rd, with release times displayed for the GMT time zone.
The list also indicates how much each release deviated from the
market consensus forecast upon release, as well as what the
affected major currency pair or pairs did after each event or set
of events. Monday, December 19
^th 12:00am NZD NBNZ Business Confidence 16.9 versus last
18.3 expected. The NZD fell. 3:30pm EUR ECB President Draghi said
that, "We have decided on three-year refinancing operations to
support the supply of credit to the euro area economy. These
measures address the risk that persistent financial markets
tensions could affect the capacity of euro area banks to obtain
refinancing over longer horizons." The EUR fell. Tuesday, December
20
^th 12:30am AUD Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes noted
that, "The strains in European interbank markets also intensified
in November, with an increasing number of banks effectively shut
off from new funding and having to rely instead on the European
Central Bank (ECB). Some banks also appeared to be running short of
the collateral necessary to obtain funding from the ECB and were
undertaking collateral swaps with non-bank institutions or turning
to their national central bank." The AUD rose. 9:00am EUR German
Ifo Business Climate 107.2 versus 106.2 expected. The EUR rose.
12:00pm CAD Core CPI 0.1% versus 0.2% expected. The CAD rose.
1:30pm USD Building Permits 0.68M versus 0.63M expected. The USD
fell overall. 9:45pm NZD Current Account -4.60B versus last -0.92B
expected. The NZD rose. Wednesday, December 21
^st 3:16am JPY Monetary Policy Statement noted that,
"Improvement in business sentiment has slowed on the whole despite
steady improvement in domestic demand-oriented sectors. Meanwhile,
although global financial markets remain under heavy strain,
financial conditions in Japan have continued to ease." 3:16am JPY
Overnight Call Rate Decision 0.10%, as expected. 7:11am JPY BOJ
Press Conference noted that, "A delay in dealing with Europe's
crisis may have a severe impact on the global economy. We must
prevent this from happening at all cost." The JPY fell. 9:30am GBP
MPC Meeting Minutes. The MPC voted 0-0-9, as expected. They also
noted that, "There had been modest upside news on the near-term
prospects for the United States but a further deterioration in
euro-area indicators and continued slowing in emerging market
economies." 9:30am GBP Public Sector Net Borrowing 15.2B versus
13.5B expected. The GBP rose slightly. 1:30pm CAD Core Retail Sales
0.7% versus 0.4% expected. The CAD rose. 3:00pm USD Existing Home
Sales 4.42M versus 5.04M expected. The USD fell overall. 9:45pm NZD
GDP 0.8% versus last 0.1% expected. The NZD rose. Thursday,
December 22
^nd 9:30am GBP Current Account -15.2B versus -5.2B
expected. The GBP rose slightly. 1:30pm USD Weekly Initial Jobless
Claims 364K versus 376K expected. The USD fell overall. 4:00pm EUR
ECB President Draghi failed to show at a key press conference. The
EUR was unchanged. Friday, December 23
^rd All Day JPY Bank Holiday 1:30pm CAD GDP 0.0% versus
0.1% expected. The CAD rose. 1:30pm USD Core Durable Goods Orders
0.3% versus 0.5% expected. 3:00pm USD New Home Sales 315K versus
314K expected. The USD was mixed. Technical Recap for the Majors
This Week EURUSD: Forecast: Mildly HigherActual: Mildly higher from
a 1.3033 open to a 1.3036 close. USDJPY: Forecast: Mildly
LowerActual: Mildly higher from a 77.77 open to a 78.12 close.
GBPUSD: Forecast: Mildly HigherActual: Mildly higher from a 1.5524
open to a 1.5624 close. AUDUSD: Forecast: Mildly HigherActual:
Higher from a 0.9967 open to a 1.0150 close. USDCAD: Forecast:
Mildly LowerActual: Lower from a 1.0389 open to a 1.0193 close.
NZDUSD: Forecast: Mildly HigherActual: Higher from a 0.7620 open to
a 0.7737 close.