Risk Appetite Makes A Stand

Risk appetite made an appearance on Wednesday throughout the broad markets. The EUR continued to find support and gained versus the USD. Gold and Crude Oil both were able to climb and equities also found some positive movement. With two days left in the trading week it will be up to the remaining sessions to see how the week turns out considering the amount of nervous sentiment which has been so prevalent in the market. The USD continues to hover near the stronger side of its recent trend still against the EUR and GBP and it will be more than interesting to see how sentiment is translated.

Risk appetite made an appearance on Wednesday throughout the broad markets. The EUR continued to find support and gained versus the USD. Gold and Crude Oil both were able to climb and equities also found some positive movement. With two days left in the trading week it will be up to the remaining sessions to see how the week turns out considering the amount of nervous sentiment which has been so prevalent in the market. The USD continues to hover near the stronger side of its recent trend still against the EUR and GBP and it will be more than interesting to see how sentiment is translated.

The U.K. will release Retail Sales data today and these numbers will be watched by investors. The debate about the major economies lurching towards growth or another recession has been growing in recent weeks due to the considerable amount of talk involving a complex web of concerns: inflation, poor consumer spending, lagging manufacturing numbers, and the size of debt that nations are carrying. The Sterling has traded near the lower values of its range against the USD. Although it had a respite Wednesday and found some footing against the Greenback, the GBP continues to move in a manner that suggests it is feeling the effects from sentiment being generated on the European continent Thus traders need to continue to watch all discussions on the Sovereign Debt situation from the European Union.  While the Retail Sales figures from the U.K. will be important in the equation, it is likely to only be a sideshow.

The EUR continues to be moved on a minute by minute basis per the rumors and news circulating about the Greek debt situation. The crisis has left traders essentially sitting on a razor’s edge as officials publically put their opinions forth about the merits of further austerity measures against the possibilities of a restructuring. The pace of the news has grown because Greece is marching quickly towards an expiration date of sorts – one in which it will need to meet its current obligations. The problem is per all of the news that is coming forth that Greece faces a critical shortfall of cash. There will be a lack of economic data from Europe today and tomorrow, but the Greece situation coupled by the pressure it will put on other nations such as Portugal, Ireland, and Spain could become immense. The question for traders is how much of this news has already been digested into the current market value for the EUR and what the implications are if the news surrounding the Sovereign Debt saga suddenly takes a new turn. Yesterday traders were able to show some risk appetite. Will that trend continue?

From the U.S. today weekly Unemployment Claims, the Philly Fed Manufacturing Index, and Existing Home Sales numbers will all be presented. Considering the fact that data from the U.S. has proven lackluster the past couple of weeks in some instances the pressure will be on if results are negative. Although Wall Street turned in positive efforts on Wednesday caution remains. The USD has done well the past two weeks and going into today’s sessions may find that risk appetite turns on a dime – meaning that the Greenback could get stronger if investors see any missteps from American data or news from across the Atlantic.

Gold as of this writing is around 1490.00 USD per ounce and Crude Oil is hovering near 100.00 USD per barrel. The AUD has found some additional momentum based on its own underlying value because of its superior interest rate. The JPY has lost some ground as the BoJ confirmed bad economic results earlier this morning from Japan and essentially showed the country has drifted back into recession.