U.S. Retail Sales for January were close to the market consensus and did not trigger any currency movements, as things remained very calm all day on Wednesday.
Is the Japanese economy on the road to recovery? No, 4th quarter GDP dipped 0.1%. This represents the third quarter of contraction in a row, which theoretically is the definition of a recession. Tokyo can therefore justify its weak yen policy, which should favour exports and may produce positive growth in the first quarter of 2013. Since reaching a high in November 2011, the yen has lost more than 20% against the greenback!
Although things are scarcely better in Europe, we'd almost forgotten about the Old Continent. Fourth quarter GDP: -0.6% for the eurozone, -0.6% for Germany, -0.6% for France and -0.9% for Italy. The euro has already lost 150 points this morning.
The USD/CAD pairing has been becalmed at around parity. Now is the ideal time to take stock of your currency needs for the coming months and get in touch with your resource people (Account Managers, Account Managers – International, Traders, etc.) so that everything is in place to take advantage of future movements.