European session: the pound fell sharply against the U.S. dollar

Data

00:30 Australia Wage Price Index, q/q Quarter IV +0.5% +0.7% +0.7%

00:30 Australia Wage Price Index, y/y Quarter IV +2.7% +2.6% +2.6%

04:30 Japan All Industry Activity Index, m/m December +0.3% +0.2% -0.1%

05:00 Japan BoJ monthly economic report February

09:30 United Kingdom Average Earnings, 3m/y December +0.9% +0.9% +1.1%

09:30 United Kingdom Average earnings ex bonuses, 3 m/y December +0.9% +0.9% +1.0%

09:30 United Kingdom Bank of England Minutes

09:30 United Kingdom Claimant count January -24.0 -18.3 -27.6

09:30 United Kingdom Claimant Count Rate January 3.7% 3.6%

09:30 United Kingdom ILO Unemployment Rate December 7.1% 7.1% 7.2%

10:00 Eurozone Construction Output, m/m December -0.6% +0.9%

10:00 Eurozone Construction Output, y/y December -1.7% -0.2%

10:00 Switzerland Credit Suisse ZEW Survey (Expectations) February 36.4 40.0 28.7

The dollar rose slightly against the euro retreated from seven-week low , as market participants are waiting for today's publication of the minutes of the January meeting of the Federal Reserve System. Recall that in December the U.S. central bank announced that it would begin to curtail incentive programs by reducing the monthly bond purchases at $ 10 billion and in the last month the Fed QE reduced to 65 billion dollars .

Also , market participants are waiting for the report from the Ministry of Commerce, which will be presented to 12:30 GMT. These will probably show that new housing Bookmarks fell to 943 thousand per annum in January with 999 thousand in December.

Pound fell against the U.S. dollar, which was a reaction to the British report . Data that has been submitted by the Office for National Statistics showed that the UK labor market continued to strengthen in recent months in 2013 , in favor of which said revenue growth and decline in the number of applications for unemployment benefits. However, it was observed an unexpected rise in the unemployment rate in the three months to December compared with the previous three-month period that serves as a reminder that the economic recovery is not as strong or balanced , says the Bank of England .

According to the report , the unemployment rate rose to 7.2 % in the three months to December , compared with 7.1% in the previous three months to November. However , the latter result was significantly less than 7.6% in the third quarter . It was also reported that the number of unemployed fell by 125,000 over the last three months of 2013. Increasing unemployment surprised economists , as they expected that this figure will remain the same .

Average growth of regular income , except for bonuses , in the three months to December rose by 1.0 % compared with 0.9 % in the previous three-month period , recording the largest increase since June last year . Moreover , it became known that the level of unemployment claims for employment fell in January to reach 3.6% from 3.7 % in December , showing the 15th consecutive monthly decline and reached its lowest level since December 2008.

The yen rose against the U.S. dollar , which was associated with the release of the monthly report of the Bank of Japan . It was said that the Japanese economy will continue to recover at a moderate pace in the near future , with the support of the further improvement of industrial production and foreign demand. The Bank of Japan, however, warned that economic growth will depend on the increase and subsequent decrease in demand before and after the increase in the consumption tax , which will be introduced in April this year. Adverse events in emerging markets, the European debt crisis and the pace of the U.S. economic recovery also pose risks to economic growth in Japan , reported in the monthly report .

Exports are expected to increase slightly , mainly to a recovery in overseas economies , says the Bank of Japan . At the same time , industrial production will continue to grow , albeit at a moderate pace, on a background of stability and strength of private consumption, investments in the housing market.

Franc fell slightly against the U.S. dollar , as the report of Switzerland was worse than expected . Note that Swiss economic expectations retreated from the highest level in more than three and a half years in February , as financial analysts have become more cautious amid slowing growth in major export markets for the Alpine country.

A study conducted by the ZEW Institute and Credit Suisse Group, showed that investors' expectations index fell to 28.7 points in February , compared to 36.4 points in January ( the highest since May 2010) . Recall that a positive value indicates that the number of participants who expect an improvement in the economic outlook is higher than the number of those who expect that they deteriorate.

We add that the latest data from the Swiss ZEW contrasts with the Purchasing Managers Index , which rose more than expected in January , and an early indicator of KOF, which rose to its highest level in two and a half years last month. They point out that economic growth in the euro zone starts to support the demand for Swiss industrial goods , which should stimulate the economy in the next six months.

EUR / USD: during the European session, the pair fell to $ 1.3740

GBP / USD: during the European session, the pair fell to $ 1.6634

USD / JPY: during the European session, the pair fell to Y101.85

At 13:30 GMT , Canada announces the change of volume of wholesale trade in December , and the U.S. will report the volume of building permits issued , the number of Housing Starts and Producer Price Index for January. At 19:00 GMT the United States will be held publication of the minutes of the Fed meeting in January . At 21:45 GMT New Zealand will present the index of purchase prices manufacturers 4Q . At 23:50 GMT , Japan will announce the overall balance of foreign trade in January .