[IMAGE] Forums Discuss these points in the Forums:  Forexnews Forum       Technicals Live Charts Analysis available from: Cornelius Luca   J.P. Chorek   Technical Research Ltd.   Charts & News featuring Standard & Poor's       Interest Rates   US: Japan: Eurozone: UK: Switzerland:   1.75%  0.15%  3.25%  4.0%  1.25-2.25%       [IMAGE] 	 [IMAGE]   Japanese Forex Trading Preview  February 13, 7:00 PM: EUR/$..0.8712 $/JPY..132.98 GBP/$..1.4285 $/CHF..1.700   Japanese Forex Trading Preview by Darko Pavlovic  At Japan Dec Current Account (exp 730 bln, prev 1125 bln)  At 11:30:00 PM Japan Dec Ind prod. m/m (exp 2.1%, prev -1.7%)   The dollar slightly eased vs. the yen, trading around 133.00, off from its highs in New York trading of 133.45, boosted by strong US retail sales and more warnings to Japan from rating agencies. US retail sales (core) posted its largest increase since March 2000 and excluding autos soared 1.2% in January from the previous revised 0.7%, higher than expected rise of 0.4%. Accounting for the majority of the gain in core retail sales was a 5.1% surge in gasoline sales in January from the previous revised -3.2%, marking its steepest rise since February 2000. The yen was hurt after Moody rating agency announced it might lower Japan's government domestic rating by up to two notches from the current Aa3. Yesterday, Standard & Poor's said that it was considering changing its rating on Japan's debt unless Japan showed clear progress in structural reform and economic recovery. Japan Dec unadjusted current account surplus rose 42% from a year earlier to 971.8 bln yen. The current account surplus for 2001 fell 12% from the previous year at 11.06 trln yen, while trade surplus for the year plunged 32% to 8.52 trln yen. Currency markets will be listening for any comments that may emerge from President Bush's trip to Japan on February 17. Rumors are circulating that Japanese authorities may announce at that time a bail out package for Japan's banks, especially in light of the recent warnings by Moody's and S?of further downgrades. In its February economic report the government said that "the Japanese economy continues to deteriorate", keeping its general economic assessment unchanged for the third straight month. The assessment was unchanged in the areas of private consumption and capital spending while estimation for industrial production was upgraded. PM Koizumi asked his economic ministers to draw up a comprehensive package of measures to fight deflation. . The BoJ Governor Hayami said that Japan's financial system remains stable and central bank will take action if necessary, but there is no need to increase government bond purchases now. Resistance is eyed at 134.0, 134.60 and 135.0. Support is seen at 133.0, 132.50 and 132.20.   EUR/USD fell to one-third cent to a 2-session low of 87.08, due to unexpected rise in US retail sales and market expectations that the US economy is getting out of recession faster than the European one. ECB Vice President Christian Noyer said that the single currency is extremely undervalued vs. the dollar and could strengthen without damaging European economies, but his remarks had no impact on the euro. Upside capped at 88.0, 88.50 and 89.0. Support holds at 87.0, 86.65 and 86.40.  Tomorrow's release of US business inventories is likely to show a slight improvement to -0.5% in December from the previous month's -1.0%, helped by a rise in retail inventories to -0.2% from the previous -1.0%. The change in inventories is seen to bring down Q4 GDP from its preliminary reading of 0.2% q/q. Meanwhile, import prices are expected to rise to -0.1% in January from -0.9% in December, due to increasing oil prices.  This week's other major US economic releases include jobless claims, PPI, industrial production and the University of Michigan confidence survey. Key Eurozone indicators consist of the ECB monthly bulletin, German retail sales, Dutch GDP, German CPI and HICP, French employment, French trade balance, French industrial production and Italian industrial production. Highlights from Japan comprise the balance of payments, industrial production and Tokyo department store sales.    	[IMAGE] Audio Mkt. Analysis EUR Gives In, Dragging Down Cable Along       Articles & Ideas  Euro Rally Running Out of Steam   The Swiss National Bank and the franc       Articles & Ideas Forex Glossary   Economic Indicators   Forex Guides   Link Library      [IMAGE] 	
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