Foreign exchange market. Asian session: the euro retreated

Economic calendar (GMT0):

Time/ Region/ Event/ Period/ Previous/ Forecast/ Actual

00:30 Australia Retail Sales, M/M October 0.4% 0.5% 0.5%

05:00 Japan Consumer Confidence November 41.5 41.8 42.6

The euro declined against the U.S. dollar after yesterday's rally, which was triggered by the European Central Bank meeting. The ECB left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.05%, but cut its deposit facility rate by 20 basis points to -0.30% (efficient on December 9). The bank also extended its asset purchase program till March 2017 and announced that it will buy regional and local government debt as well. The ECB left its asset-purchase plan at €60 billion, though many analysts had expected the bank to expand it by €15 billion.

Today market participants are waiting for the U.S. non-farm payrolls report. A median forecast suggests non-farm sectors of the U.S. economy created 200,000 jobs in November compared to 271,000 new jobs in October. Analysts also expect the unemployment rate to remain at 5%.

The Australian dollar declined against the greenback partly due to retail sales data. Retail sales rose by 0.5% in October on a seasonally adjusted basis. The reading was in line with expectations. Department stores saw a 3.5% gain in sales. Sales of household goods rose by 1.1%. Meanwhile sales of clothing and footwear fell 0.1% and spending for dining out declined by 0.6%.

EUR/USD: the pair fluctuated within $1.0895-55 in Asian trade

USD/JPY: the pair traded within Y122.50-85

GBP/USD: the pair fell to $1.5110

The most important news that are expected (GMT0):

(time / country / index / period / previous value / forecast)

07:00 Germany Factory Orders s.a. (MoM) October -1.7% 1.2%

08:00 United Kingdom Halifax house price index November 1.1%

08:00 United Kingdom Halifax house price index 3m Y/Y November 9.7%

08:15 Switzerland Consumer Price Index (MoM) November 0.1% 0%

08:15 Switzerland Consumer Price Index (YoY) November -1.4% -1.3%

13:30 Canada Trade balance, billions October -1.73 -1.7

13:30 Canada Unemployment rate November 7.0% 7%

13:30 Canada Employment November 44.4 -10

13:30 U.S. Average workweek November 34.5 34.5

13:30 U.S. Average hourly earnings November 0.4% 0.2%

13:30 U.S. International Trade, bln October -40.81 -40.5

13:30 U.S. Nonfarm Payrolls November 271 200

13:30 U.S. Unemployment Rate November 5% 5%

15:00 Canada Ivey Purchasing Managers Index November 53.1 55.3