Yen Lower on Japan’s Earthquake, Euro Recovers Mildly

The yen weakened sharply after a strong earthquake hit Japan. US officials said that earthquake is of 8.8 magnitude, about 400km from Tokyo.

An EU summit is scheduled for today and expectations for any definite actions to emerge from it are low. Any resolution on the pressing issues will likely have to wait for the Eurogroup/Ecofin meetings on March 14-15 and then the next EU summit on March 24-25. Moody’s yesterday downgraded Spain by one notch to AA2 with a negative outlook, which caused a sell-off in Euro. The ratings agency cited concerns over the eventual cost of bank restructuring and structural issue over broader government finances.

Today’s main focus will be the UK PPI in the European session, followed later by the Canada employment data and US retail sales.