European session: the euro fell

Data:

07:00 Germany Producer Price Index (MoM) December +0.1% +0.1% -0.4%

07:00 Germany Producer Price Index (YoY) December +5.2% +4.6% +4.4%

09:30 United Kingdom Retail Sales (MoM) December -0.4% +0.6% +0.6%

09:30 United Kingdom Retail Sales (YoY) December +0.7% +2.4% +2.6%

The euro fell as European stocks fell and Greek officials and private creditors struggled to reach an agreement on a debt-swap plan.

The dollar rallied versus most of its major counterparts as investors sought the relative safety of the U.S. currency.

The euro was still headed for its first five-day gain in seven weeks after Spain and France sold bonds at lower yields yesterday.

European officials and Greece’s private bondholders agreed in October to carry out a 50 percent cut in the face value of the nation’s debt by voluntarily exchanging outstanding bonds for new securities, with a goal of reducing the country’s borrowings to 120 percent of gross domestic product by 2020. An accord with bondholders is essential to a second financing package for Greece, which faces a 14.5 billion-euro ($18.7 billion) bond payment on March 20.

EUR/USD: the pair receded from the high in $1,2900 area.

GBP/USD: the pair has fallen in $1,5450 area, but slightly restored later.

USD/JPY: the pair was limited Y77.05-Y77.30.

US data starts at 1500GMT, when the pace of existing home sales is expected to rise to a 4.67 million annual rate in December after the 4.0% rise in November. The pending home sales index posted sharp gains in each of the last two months.