GFX Morning Market Commentary March 16th, 2012

Good Morning,

Today’s expected range for the Canadian Dollar against the US Dollar is .9875-.9975

Today’s expected range for the Canadian Dollar against the Euro is 1.2950-1.3050

Today’s expected range for the Canadian Dollar against Sterling is 1.5610-1.5710

The US Dollar is marginally stronger this morning in very quiet currency market, the Greenback continues to hold onto its strength on the back off improving prospects for the US economy, As an interesting note the S&P in the US broke above the 1400 level for the first time since June 2008 yesterday, the last time it was at these levels Lehmann Brothers was getting ready to implode and bring down the US economy. All the latest economic news out of the US continues to point to a modest recovery and up today that trend should continue with the release of the Consumer Confidence and Inflations reports. Inflation does not look to be a concern in the USA so there should be no reason for the Federal Reserve to change any interest rate policy.

The Euro-Zone reported their trade data this morning and it showed a significant drop in the size of their trade deficit with exports jumping 11% in January, a clear sign that the European economy is producing more, unfortunately if you look at the numbers it is only a few economies that are increasing their exports and it is still a case of the have and have not’s. On the news the Euro jumped slightly against the Greenback but it still trades with an overall weak bias.

It feels like Groundhog Day around here at GFX,  once again the Canadian Dollar is relatively unchanged against the US Greenback in very quiet FX markets. I think Canadian Dollar traders are looking for any scrap of excitement that might get the market moving, at the moment USD.CAD continues to move back towards par at a snail’s pace and with nothing on the horizon to change this situation  these conditions might stay the same for a while yet.

Hopefully the US inflation data will excite the markets today but barring any surprises once again USD.CAD should have a muted range.

Have a great weekend

Mike

GFX Morning FX Rates
Friday March 16th, 2012
Currencies	7:00am Today's Opening				Yesterday's Opening
USD/CAD		0.9934			0.9934
CAD/USD		1.0066			1.0066
EUR/USD		1.297			1.3042
EUR/CAD		1.5622			1.2957
STG/CAD		1.0463			1.5558
AUD/CAD		84.23			1.0419
CAD/JPY		0.931			83.43
CAD/CHF		7.8119			0.9343
CAD/HKD		6.3653			7.814
CAD/CNY					6.3749
Commodities
Gold		$1,646.98			$1,646.70
OIL		$105.23			$105.53
Option Volatility
O/N		7.17%			11.78%
1 Week		8.69%			8.99%
1 Month		8.33%			8.64%