Forex Daily Outlook – February 18th 2009

Today features lots of US data, with the Building Permits in the center of attention. Also the Meeting Minutes from both Britain and the US will be carefully read by forex traders. Let’s see what’s on the menu today.

In Australia,  Quarterly Retail Sales rose by only 0.8%, lower than expectations. Despite this, AUD/USD is back above 0.64.

In Britain, the  MPC Meeting Minutes will be closely watched today. It could indicate further rate cuts. Also the  CBI Industrial Order Expectations will be released, and is expected to fall by 45 points.

In Canada,  Wholesale Sales are expected to show a decline of  2.2%.  

And then, a big bulk of US data is expected to be released: At 13:30,  Building Permits will be in the limelight, expected to stand at 0.52 million. A related figure is the Housing Starts, which is predicted to show a similar figure.

Also in the US,  Import Prices that are expected to fall by 1.2%,  Capacity Utilization Rate  (72.5%) and  Industrial Production (-1.4%).

After all these figures, traders will stay tuned to some verbal information: Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, will speak. At the same time,  Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans will also talk.

And the last figure of the day is the release of the  FOMC Meeting Minutes, due at 19:00 GMT. Together with Obama’s stimulus package, the forecast of the FOMC could give a good indication of the economy.