The following table lists the key economic data and other events that came out during the week of December 30th through January 3rd, 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 30th
- 10:12am EUR Italian 10-year Bond Auction 4.11 average yield with a 1.3 bid to cover ratio versus last average yield 4.01 percent with a 1.5 bid to cover ratio. The currency rose.
- 3:00pm USD Pending Home Sales 0.2% versus 1.1% expected. The currency fell.
Tuesday, December 31st
- All Day JPY Bank Holiday
- 12:30am AUD Private Sector Credit 0.3% versus 0.4% expected. The currency rose.
- All Day EUR German Bank Holiday
- 2:00pm USD S&P/CS Composite-20 HPI 13.6% versus 13.4% expected. The currency rose.
- 2:45pm USD Chicago PMI 59.1 versus 61.3 expected. The currency rose.
- 3:00pm USD CB Consumer Confidence 78.1 versus 76.5 expected. The currency rose.
- All Day NZD Bank Holiday
- All Day AUD Bank Holiday
Wednesday, January 1st
- 1:00am CNY Manufacturing PMI 51.0 versus 51.3 expected.
- All Day JPY Bank Holiday
- All Day CNY Bank Holiday
- All Day CHF Bank Holiday
- All Day EUR French Bank Holiday
- All Day EUR German Bank Holiday
- All Day EUR Italian Bank Holiday
- All Day GBP Bank Holiday
- All Day CAD Bank Holiday
- All Day USD Bank Holiday
- All Day NZD Bank Holiday
Thursday, January 2nd
- All Day JPY Bank Holiday
- All Day CNY Bank Holiday
- 1:45am CNY HSBC Final Manufacturing PMI 50.5 versus 50.5 expected.
- All Day CHF Bank Holiday
- 8:15am EUR Spanish Manufacturing PMI 50.8 versus 49.9 expected. The currency fell.
- 8:45am EUR Italian Manufacturing PMI 53.3 versus 51.8 expected. The currency fell.
- 9:30am GBP Manufacturing PMI 57.3 versus 58.3 expected. The currency fell.
- 1:30pm USD Weekly Initial Jobless Claims 339K versus 334K expected. The currency rose.
- 3:00pm USD ISM Manufacturing PMI 57.0 versus 56.8 expected. The currency rose.
Friday, January 3rd
- All Day JPY Bank Holiday
- 1:00am CNY Non-Manufacturing PMI 54.6 versus 56.0 expected. The currency rose.
- 7:00am GBP Nationwide HPI 1.4% versus 0.8% expected. The currency fell.
- 8:00am CHF KOF Economic Barometer 1.95 versus 1.92 expected. The currency fell.
- 8:00am EUR Spanish Unemployment Change -107.6K versus -2.5K expected. The currency fell.
- 8:30am CHF SVME PMI 53.9 versus 56.4 expected. The currency fell.
- 9:00am EUR M3 Money Supply 1.5% versus 1.5% expected. The currency fell.
- 9:30am GBP Construction PMI 62.1 versus 62.3 expected. The currency fell.
- 9:30am GBP BOE Credit Conditions Survey noted that, "Spreads on corporate lending fell in Q3, with significant reductions reported for large businesses. Medium-sized businesses also saw a significant fall in spreads, and slight falls were reported for small businesses. In Q4, spreads were expected to fall further for large and medium-sized companies, and to be little changed for small businesses." The currency fell.
- 9:30am GBP Net Lending to Individuals 1.5B versus 2.0B expected. The currency fell.
- 4:00pm USD Crude Oil Inventories -7.0M versus last -4.7M expected. The currency rose.
- 5:45pm USD FOMC Member Plosser has not yet spoken. Hawkish = good for currency.
- 6:15pm USD FOMC Member Stein has not yet spoken. Hawkish = good for currency.
- 7:30pm USD Fed Chairman Bernanke has not yet spoken. Hawkish = good for currency.
Saturday, January 4th
- 3:15pm USD FOMC Member Dudley has not yet spoken. Hawkish = good for currency.
- 10:00pm USD FOMC Member Plosser has not yet spoken. Hawkish = good for currency.
Technical Recap for the Majors This Week:
EUR/USD:
Forecast: Mildly Higher
Actual: Lower from a 1.3761 open to a 1.3607 close.
USD/JPY:
Forecast: Mildly Higher
Actual: Mildly lower from a105.32 open to a 104.55 close.
GBP/USD:
Forecast: Mildly Higher
Actual: Mildly lower from a 1.6491 open to a 1.6415 close.
AUD/USD:
Forecast: Mildly Lower
Actual: Higher from a 0.8849 open to a 0.8972 close.
USD/CAD:
Forecast: Mildly Higher
Actual: Mildly lower from a 1.0705 open to a 1.0621 close.
NZD/USD:
Forecast: Mildly Lower
Actual: Higher from a 0.8144 open to a 0.8289 close.
Risk Statement: Trading Foreign Exchange on margin carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. The possibility exists that you could lose more than your initial deposit. The high degree of leverage can work against you as well as for you.