Tuesday, 15 Feb 2011

EUR Makes Gains in Morning Session

The euro eked out modest gains in the morning session, as risk demand slowly started to return to the market. The EUR/USD has gone up some 75 pips so far today, and is currently trading around the 1.3540 level. Meanwhile, the EUR/JPY is up close to 70 pips at its current level of 113.16. Analysts have commented that persistant concerns over the lack of a concrete plan to combat euro-zone debt is preventing the currency from increasing higher. That being said, the gains made so far today look like the start of the 17-nation single currency ending its recent bearish streak.

Turning to the rest of the day, the US Retail Sales and Core Retail Sales figures are likely to dominate market activity. Both are scheduled to be released at 13:30 GMT. Analysts are predicting that both figures will come in around the same levels as last month. While the anticipated figures are positive, without signs of further improvement in US retail sales, the dollar is unlikely to make significant gains today.