Forex Daily Outlook – April 19 2011

US Housing data and Canadian inflation rate are the main events lined up.  Let’s see what awaits us today.

In the US, Housing Starts increased by 479,000 in February less than the 575,000 expected following 618,000 in January. A rise to 520,000 is expected now.

Building Permits reached 517,000 new permits below the 565,000 predicted by analysts. An increase to 540,000 is forecasted now.

In Canada, CPI increased on a yearly base by 2.2% in February following 2.3% rise in the previous month. An increase of 2.8% is predicted now. On a monthly basis CPI rose 0.3% as in the previous month and is forecasted to gain 0.6% this time. Meantime, Core CPI  provides a more stable figure disregarding two important sectors in the economy gained 0.2% in February following a flat rate in the a similar rise of 0.2% is expected.

Further in Canada, Wholesale Sales, 1.5% in January following 0.9% rise in the previous month above expectations of 1.1% increase. A small drop of 0.2% is forecasted.

Finally in Canada, Leading Indicators gained 0.8% in February above 0.7% forecasted and twice the previous month. A more modest increase of 0.3% is expected.

For more on USD/CAD, read the  Canadian dollar forecast.

In Europe, PMI services index rose to 57.2 from 56.9 in February. A small drop to 56.9 is forecasted now. Meanwhile PMI Manufacturing Index dropped to 57.7 in March from 59.0 in the previous month broadly in line with expectations. A further decline to 57.0 is predicted.

Further in the Euro-Zone Current Account narrowed its deficit to  -0.7B in January following a deficit of 12.5B in the previous month. This better than expected figure is likely to reoccur.

Finally in Europe, Construction Production value added by the construction industry  a measure of the housing industry health dropped 4.5% on a yearly base in January following 12.0% decrease in the month before A smaller decrease is expected now. On a monthly basis Construction Production gained 1.8% following a decrease of 2.0% in December. Another gain is likely to follow.

For more on the Euro, read the  EUR/USD forecast

In Japan, Consumer Confidence Index,  based on a survey of consumers inquiring about economic activity A good indicator of  economic strength dropped to   40.6 in February from 41.1 in the prior month. A further decrease is expected now.

That’s it for today. Happy forex trading!