EUR
Yesterday the markets main focus surronded the Euro, with European
investors appearing to be more optimistic just before the European Central Bank
(ECB) meeting on Thursday.  All eyes will be to see if any form of
quantitive easing may be applied, with the anticipation ultimately driving the
market higher. There is also some concern as the Greeks go to the polls next
week for their elections votes. 

EUR
Yesterday the markets main focus surronded the Euro, with European
investors appearing to be more optimistic just before the European Central Bank
(ECB) meeting on Thursday.  All eyes will be to see if any form of
quantitive easing may be applied, with the anticipation ultimately driving the
market higher. There is also some concern as the Greeks go to the polls next
week for their elections votes. 

Some analysts are speculating the  ECB will announce a €600bn
sovereign bond buying programme on Thursday to potentially try and recover the
Euro and aim to bring inflation back up to the central bank’s target 2%
ceiling.  Although the figure remains a topic of debate. The main focus
for the week will be to see if they will take the plunge on Thursday with the aim
being to boost the eurozone economy which could weaken the euro further
and combat the prospect of deflation

We did also see Denmark’s central bank cut interest rates by 0.15% points to
-0.2% to try and slow down the gains made by the krone against the euro,
however analysts suggest Denmark is unlikely to abandon its currency peg with
the euro despite its upward pressure over the last few weeks.  The Danish
currency peg has been in place for over thirty years, whereas the Swiss ceiling
was introduced only 3½ years ago. 

CNH
Over night  in  Asia the stock markets  rose and the dollar
strengthened after China said its economy had not slowed as much as many in
markets had feared.China grew 7.4 percent in 2014, just missing official
forecasts of 7.5 percent, and its slowest growth in 24 years. But
fourth-quarter expansion held steady at 7.3 percent, down on the previous three
months but marginally better than expected.

However, the International Monetary Fund cut its forecast for global growth in
2015 by three-tenths of a percent to 3.5 percent and called on governments and
central banks to pursue accommodative monetary policies and reforms.

Key Announcements:
10:00- EUR:  German ZEW Economic Sentiment (Jan) currently at
34.9 but expected to rise to 40

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