Forex: Monday’s review

00:01 United Kingdom BRC Retail Sales Monitor y/y December -1.6% +0.5% +2.2%

00:01 United Kingdom RICS House Price Balance December -17% -18% -16%    

00:30 Australia Building Permits, m/m November -10.7% +6.3% +8.4%

00:30 Australia Building Permits, y/y November -29.8% -19.8% -18.9%

02:00 China Trade Balance, bln December 14.5 8.3 16.5

Yesterday the euro rose to a 16-month low against the dollar after meeting, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, specify a new set of rules of financial discipline discussed at the summit on December 9. As per the last meeting, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that negotiations on the fiscal pact are good. Merkel also noted the need for a fiscal pact included measures to stimulate economic growth. In turn, French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged that France's budget deficit in 2011 will be lower than expected.

It became known  of the resignation of the head of the Swiss National Bank Philipp Hildebrand. The resignation is related to the recent scandal of illegal operations with the use of insider information. Frank has become stronger after reports of the resignation of the head of the Swiss central bank.

EUR/USD: yesterday the pair grew.

GBP/USD: yesterday the pair was restored.

USD/JPY: yesterday the pair holds in range Y76.80-Y77.00.

Macroeconomic data releases are generally second-tier for Tuesday, starting at 0730GMT with the Bank of France business survey, which is followed at 0745GMT by France industrial output data. US data starts at 1245GMT with the ICSC Weekly Shopping mall sales, which are followed at 1355GMT by the Redbook weekly store sales data. US data continues at 1500GMT with Wholesale Inventories and the IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index.