The Japanese industrial production rose more than analysts forecasted during December, where the manufacturers bolstered their production to make up for disruptions caused by Thailand’s worst floods in 70 years. As, factory output rose in December, when production slid because of supply disruptions, as the preliminary reading for the monthly industrial-production index during December rose 4.0%, compared with the November’s reading of -2.7%, also it exceeded expectations of -3.0%. Also, the annual preliminary reading for the industrial-production... 

Last night’s EU summit didn’t provide any major surprises for the market. Instead, European officials discussed exactly what investors expected them to, such as bringing forth the implementation of the ESM to July and negotiating a fiscal compact. Despite the neutral data flow last night, falling equity markets and record high Portuguese bond yields highlight the nervousness embedded in market sentiment. Themes: At 11:30 AEST business confidence and private sector credit data is due to be released out of Sydney. We expect the push back into positive... 

The NZD/USD had a very choppy day during the 1/30 US session, at the end of which there was a quick spike to the downside and an immediate recovery. In the 1H chart, this shows up as a double bottom. As we enter the 1/31 Asian session, the market rallies above this bottom and is looking to continue the uptrend. The short-term resistance is at 0.8248, last week’s high. The daily chart shows that the market was falling from a previous resistance pivot from Oct. 2011. However, the RSI suggests that during the previous attempt, the momentum was held persistently... 

This week, 3 fundamental releases will give us a good idea of the UK’s economic performance in January, as we look at the latest manufacturing, services, and construction PMI’s. These releases can either improve the GBP’s fortune as recent week have seen rising unemployment and a contraction in growth for the 4th quarter. A string of positive releases – and the most timely ones – will be important to the outlook and prospect for the Bank of England. Therefore the upcoming week of UK fundamentals will be important for the path... 

Euro extends its broad based pull back as it’s looking unlikely that Greece would agree on anything solid today ahead of the EU summit and the negotiation would possibly drag on for at least a few more days. Meanwhile, Greek Finance minister Venizelos firmly rejected Germany’s proposal for EU to take control over Greece’s budget on national sovereignty. Risk markets are also facing some pressure from selloff in European banks stocks. Dollar index managed to recover but after all it’s still staying well below 80 psychological level....