Asia Session

Ladies and gentleman, risk appetite is once again back in the markets.....After what can only be described as a energetic start to the week by US equities, Asian equities did not disappoint, gaining ground to the tune of 3% for the Japanese Nikkei. As we have witnessed countless times over in the past months, as stocks rise, the Yen and the US Dollar sink, however, with most of the damage to the Yen and Dollar happening in the NY session, the follow through was not as drastic in Asia with the currencies only slightly lower after all was said and done. US stocks got a boost from 3 major banks applying to return TARP money to the government as well as some better than expected retail sales data. Throw into the mix the perception that the US is exiting the financial crisis as well as some comments from a Japanese official that seemed to hint at currency intervention, and the end result was the big moves we saw preceding the Asia session. USD/JPY this time yesterday was hovering near 94.60, the session high today was two big figures higher, 96.61, but all in all for the day, after the aforementioned high, and the 96.13 low, the pair exited the day right near its staring levels of 96.30. EUR/JPY, topping a 4 handle move in a 24 hour span, hit a 131.07 high before settling down near the 130.70 area, not much higher than opening levels.

EUR/USD was up about 10 pips for the session after being in a 50 pip range in sluggish trading. Many investors could be looking ahead to the important German ZEW data later in London and deciding not to press their luck. The Aussie dollar continued higher, with a 0.7687 high printed, on the back of some optimistic words from RBA Governor Stevens who pretty much hinted that Australia's interest rates will remain unchanged...

Upcoming Economic Data Releases (London Session) prior expected

5/19/2009	8:30	UK	CPI (MoM)	APR	0.20%	0.40%
5/19/2009	8:30	UK	CPI (YoY)	APR	2.90%	2.40%
5/19/2009	8:30	UK	Core CPI YOY	APR	1.70%	1.60%
5/19/2009	8:30	UK	Retail Price Index	APR	211.3	211.6
5/19/2009	8:30	UK	RPI (MoM)	APR	0.00%	0.20%
5/19/2009	8:30	UK	RPI (YoY)	APR	-0.40%	-1.10%
5/19/2009	8:30	UK	RPI Ex Mort Int.Payments (YoY)	APR	2.20%	1.70%
5/19/2009	9:00	GE	ZEW Survey (Econ. Sentiment)	MAY	13	20
5/19/2009	9:00	GE	Zew Survey (Current Situation)	MAY	-91.6	-90
5/19/2009	9:00	EC	ZEW Survey (Econ. Sentiment)	MAY	11.8	18
5/19/2009	9:00	EC	Construction Output SA MoM	MAR	-1.80%	- -
5/19/2009	9:00	EC	Construction Output WDA YoY	MAR	-11.80%	- -
5/19/2009	9:30	EC	ECB's Tumpel-Gugerell Speaks in Berlin	19-May