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Cliff Wachtel
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Cliff Wachtel, CPA, is currently the Chief Analyst of anyoption.com, a leading binary options broker, and Director of Market Research, New Media and Training for Caesartrade.com, a fast growing forex and CFD broker. He is also the author of The Sensible Guide To Forex, and publisher of... More
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  • Week of January 10-14 Economic Calendar Highlights, Themes, Key Market Movers 0 comments
    Jan 9, 2011 6:35 AM | about stocks: AA, INTC, JPM
    Key Market Drivers
     
    PRIOR WEEK JANUARY 3-7, 2011
     
    Rising EU Crisis Anxiety From:
     
    • Swiss National Bank Refusal To Accept Irish, Then Portuguese, Government Bonds as Collateral
    • Spiking PIIGS Sovereign and Bank Borrowing Costs
    • Germany & France Already Want Portugal Bailout (see here)
    • EU Commission Considering Mandatory Haircuts For EU Sovereign Bond Holders
     
     
    US  Data: Jobs, Retail, Foreclosure Ruling:
     
    • Early Indicators Suggest Great Results, Boost Markets, USD
    • Friday’s Actual Figure A Mild Disappointment, Has The Opposite Effects
    • Poor US Retailer Data weighs on stocks, suggest US consumer still struggling
    • Massachusetts Court Ruling Endangering Bank Foreclosures Hits Financial Stocks Friday, Revives Uncertainty About Bank Losses From Defaults
     
     
    USD Soars, EUR Tanks On Combination Of:
     
    • Overall Good US Economic Data
    • Tepid EU Data and Above Mentioned EU Crisis News
     
     
    COMING WEEK JANUARY 10-14, 2011
     
    Indicators Of EU Anxiety:
     
    • Portuguese Bond  Sale Wednesday January 12th
    • Spain, Italy Bond Sales Thursday January 13th
    • ECB, BOE Rate Decisions-Watch For Signs of Anxiety
     
    The big potential market moving news is likely to come from the above bond sale results and whatever the ECB does to attempt to manage rising anxiety about the PIIGS, Belgium, Hungary, etc.
     
    Portugal has said that a 7% yield on their 10 year bond would be too burdensome at would necessitate a bailout. Yields are now at 7.11%. So unless the coming week’s auction can show lower yields without ECB help, then a bailout is now just a matter of time. That would make the Spanish auction all the more critical, as the EU’s bailout fund of € 750 bln is now mostly committed, leaving nothing for Spain.
     
    Estimated funds needed to for the coming years’ bailouts run at around $3 Trillion.
     
    It’s getting worse for the EU.
     
     
     
    The weekly chart below of the EURUSD tells much of the story
     

     
    WEEKLY EURUSD CHART   01jan09 12 H
     
     
    Note that on Friday the EURUSD decisively broke through:
     
    • The 5-month support level of 1.300
    • Both its 20 and 50 day SMA
    • Its 50% Fibonacci retracement level dating back to its multi-year low of 1.1940 of early June 2010. In other words, the pair has lost over half its gains since the height of the Greek bailout crisis before the EU/IMG €750 bln rescue plan hit.  
     
    US Earnings Q4 2010 Begins, Marquee Names Include:
     
    • Alcoa (AA) Monday
    • Intel (INTC) Thursday
    • JPMorgan Chase (JPM) Friday
     
    The volume of market moving names picks up the following week but speculation on these could also fuel volatility, as each of the above is considered an indicator of its sector’s health.
     
     
     
    Calendar Events
     
    While we believe the EU bond auctions noted above, and anything connected to them, are the biggest potential market movers, there are certainly some scheduled calendar events worth noting. Note that US Q4 earnings season starts this week and will compete for market attention along with with the calendar and EU crisis issues.
     
    Big Themes By Region
     
    Overall, the EU crisis remains the most potent source of market moving data.
     
    • US: Retail sales, CPI, industrial utilization, UoM consumer confidence, initial earnings reports and speculation about those to come
     
    • Asia: China trade balance and consumer confidence reports, Australia retail and jobs reports, in addition to any news on flood damage implications or new China tightening
     
    • EU: ECB, BOE rate statements, PIIGS bond auctions noted above (Monday’s Sentix Investor Confidence may take on unusual importance as a leading indicator of how these turn out)
     
    Highlights By Region In Chronological Order
     
     Here are the key events, priority items in boldface.
     
    Unites States
     
    Monday – Fed's Lockhart speaks
    Tuesday – Dec. Jan. IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism, Nov. Wholesale Inventories, weekly ABC Consumer Confidence
    Wednesday – Dec. Import Price Index, weekly DOE U.S. Crude Oil Inventories, Fed's Beige Book,
    Thursday – Weekly Jobless Claims, Dec. PPI, Nov. Trade Balance, Bernanke Speaks
    Friday – Dec. CPI, Dec. Advance Retail Sales, Dec. Industrial Production & Capacity Utilization, Jan. preliminary U. of Michigan Confidence, Nov. Business Inventories
     
     
    Euro-Zone
     
    Monday – French Nov. Industrial & Manufacturing Production, EZ Jan. Sentix Investor Confidence,
    Wednesday – German 2010 GDP, EZ Nov. Industrial Production
    Thursday – EU's Van Rompuy speaks, Jan. ECB Interest Rate Announcement
    Friday – German Dec. final CPI, Dec. EZ CPI, Nov. EZ Trade Balance
     
     
    United Kingdom
     
    Tuesday – BRC December Retail Sales Monitor
    Wednesday – BRC Shop Price Index, Nov. Trade Balance
    Thursday – Nov. Industrial & Manufacturing Production, Jan. BOE Interest Rate Announcement, Dec. NIESR GDP Estimate
    Friday – Dec. PPI
     
     
    Japan
     
    Tuesday – Dec. Official Reserve Assets, Nov. preliminary Leading & Coincident Index CI
    Wednesday – Dec. Bank Lending, Nov. Current Account, Dec. Eco Watchers Survey
    Thursday – Nov. Machine Orders, Dec. preliminary Machine Tool Orders
    Friday – Dec. Domestic CGPI
     
    Canada
     
    Monday – Nov. Building Permits, 4Q Business Outlook Future Sales, 4Q BoC Senior Loan Officer Survey, BoC Cote speaks
    Tuesday – Dec. Housing Starts
    Wednesday – Nov. New Housing Price Index
    Thursday – Nov. International Merchandise Trade
     
     
    Australia And New Zealand
     
    Monday – Nov. NZ Trade Balance, Imports & Exports, AU Dec. AiG Perf. of Construction Index, Aussie Dec. Retail Sales
    Tuesday – 4Q NZ NZIER Business Opinion Survey, Nov. NZ Building Permits, Nov. Aussie Trade Balance,
    Wednesday – Nov. Aussie Home Loans and Investment lending
    Thursday – Dec. NZ Business PMI, Dec. NZ Card Spending, Dec. NZ House Prices, Dec, Aussie Employment Report, Dec. NZ ANZ Commodity Price
     
    China
     
    Monday – Trade Balance
    Thursday – Conference Board China November Leading Economic Index
     
     
    For a full listing of calendar events, their relative importance, previous and forecasted results, see www.forexfactory.com >> calendar tab.
     
    DISCLOSURE & DISCLAIMER: AUTHOR IS SHORT THE EUR FOR PERSONAL PORTFOLIO. THE ABOVE IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS SPECIFIC TRADING ADVICE. RESPONSIBILITY FOR TRADE DECISIONS IS SOLELY WITH THE READER
    Themes: ECONONIC CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS, GLOBAL STOCKS, CURRENCIES, FOREX, OIL, GOLD, DOLLAR, YEN, POUND, EURO, EUR/USD GPB/USD, USD/JPY, AUD/USD, NZD/USD, GBP/USD, USD/CAD, EUR/GBP, USD/CHF, FOMC Rate Statement, Euro-zone debt crisis, Manufacturing PMI, Services PMI, Non-Farms U.S. Payr Stocks: AA, INTC, JPM
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