Forex: Tuesday’s review

Yesterday the euro fell against yen after Standard & Poor’s warned it may downgrade the European Financial Stability Fund, reinforcing concern that policy makers haven’t contained the region’s debt crisis. The 17-nation euro fluctuated against the dollar as U.S. stocks rose. The euro area’s six AAA rated countries are among those placed on a negative outlook, and their ratings may be cut depending on the result of a summit of European leaders on Dec. 9, S&P said yesterday in a statement. The company said ratings may be cut by one level for Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and by up to two levels for the other governments.

The Swiss franc weakened against all its major counterparts after consumer prices dropped in November. S&P added the bailout fund today to the 15 euro nations placed on a negative outlook yesterday before a summit meeting this week.

EUR/USD: yesterday the pair traded nearby $1.3400.

GBP/USD: yesterday the pair fell having lost a floor of a figure.

USD/JPY: yesterday the pair holds in range Y77.65-Y77.85.                                

European data for Wednesday starts at 0745GMT with foreign trade data from France. Germany industrial output data then follows, at 1100GMT. UK data sees the latest Index of Production data, where Industrial Production is expected to come in at -0.3% m/m, -0.7% y/y and Manufacturing Output is expected to come in at -0.2% m/m, +1.5% y/y. US data starts at 1200GMT with the weekly MBA Mortgage Application Index, while at 2000GMT, Treasury Allotments By Class data is due at the same time as Consumer credit usage is expected to rise $7.5 billion in October after see-sawing in the previous two months.