Daily monitor 21.02.2013 Thursday

Market news:

Asian stocks slid lower on Thursday after the Federal Reserve hinted that it may slow its bond-buying activities or halt the program, sending traders fleeing riskier assets and into safe-havens such as the U.S. Dollar.

The USD has continued to trade firmer against most of the major currencies this morning as risk appetite amongst investors decreased within minutes of the release of the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) latest monetary policy meeting which revealed that several policymakers favoured varying the pace of quantitative easing (QE). As a result the EUR is down where it was at the start of last month.

European equities are also in the red and continue their way to the downside this morning as risk off sentiment is getting the upper hand.

Today will be a very news heavy day, so keep an eye out on those news releases as they'll definitely going to affect price action.

Intraday options that are due to expire today at 15:00 GMT.

EUR/USD – 1.3300, 1.3365

USD/JPY – 91.00, 94.00

AUD/USD – 1.0310

EUR/GBP – 0.8580

Important economic data scheduled for today:

09:00 Flash Manufacturing PMI (EU) – Previous: 49.8, forecast: 50.4. The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) measures the activity level of purchasing managers in the manufacturing sector. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector; below 50 indicates contraction. The French and German data have already been released and they were both mostly in line with expectations.

09:00 Flash Services PMI (EU) – Previous: 48.6, forecast: 49.2. The Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) measures the activity level of purchasing managers in the services sector. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector; a reading below 50 indicates contraction. The French and German data have already been released, and both came out worse than expected.

13:30 Core CPI (US) – Previous: 0.1%, forecast: 0.2%. The Core Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures the changes in the price of goods and services, excluding food and energy. The CPI measures price change from the perspective of the consumer. It is a key way to measure changes in purchasing trends and inflation.

13:30 Unemployment Claims (US) – Previous: 341K, forecast: 353K. It measures the number of individuals who filed for unemployment insurance for the first time during the past week.

14:00 Flash Manufacturing PMI (US) – Previous: 55.8, forecast: 55.6. The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) measures the activity level of purchasing managers in the manufacturing sector. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector; below 50 indicates contraction.

15:00 Philly Fed Manufacturing Index (US) – Previous: -5.8, forecast: 1.1. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Manufacturing Index rates the relative level of general business conditions in Philadelphia. A level above zero on the index indicates improving conditions; below that indicates worsening conditions. The data is compiled from a survey of about 250 manufacturers in the Philadelphia Federal Reserve district.