by GoLearn Forex
Friday capped a terrible week for the equity markets as it sent almost all markets negative for the year. President Obama's plan, to limit the risk that banks can assume sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeting. This announcement combined with China's new hard line stance on quantitative easing helped to send all equity markets lower on Friday. In the U.S, the DJIA closed down 216.90 points to 10,172.98.
The FX market was mixed across the board to close out Friday's session. The JPY gained .68% on the Greenback while the CAD and GBP both lost .51%. Gold held firm below 1,100, for a second day in a row while Oil continued to get rocked, closing at 74.54, giving up a $1.54 a barrel. Oil was trading over $80 as recently as last week, as this represent its 3rd loss in as many days.
The economic data docket this week is jammed packed, however it will get off to a slow start for Monday as Existing Home Sales in the U.S will print, as will German Consumer Confidence in the Euro-zone. On Tuesday, the U.K will announce GDP figures. All eyes will be on the U.S Federal Reserve Bank's interest rate decision as well as the RBNZ's, both are set to hit the wire on Wednesday.
Upcoming FX Events for January 25, 2010
EUR GfK German Consumer Climate Actual 3.20 Previous 3.20 Forecast 3.40
USD Existing Home Sales Previous 5.95M Forecast 6.54M
JPY Interest Rate Decision Forecast 0.10% Previous 0.10%