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Written by Kathy Lien, Chief Strategist

German and French markets were closed today which explains why the only meaningful movement that we saw in the EUR/USD today was between 8 to 10 am EST (European markets will remain closed on Monday). Before and after that, the EUR/USD remained confined within a very tight trading range.  The only piece of economic data from the Eurozone was the OECD’s release of leading indicators, which remained unchanged at 109.3 for the month of February.  In the week ahead, there are far more Eurozone data than there are US data on the calendar.  The most important of which is the European Central Bank’s interest rate meeting.  Even though rates are not expected to be changed, it will be very important to tune into Trichet’s accompanying press conference.  The last time he spoke, he omitted the words strong vigilance from his speech, which indicated to the market that he wasn’t going to follow up the March 14th rate hike with another hike in April.  However, rates could be raised in May or June, especially since ECB officials have remained staunchly hawkish.  Aside from the ECB meeting, Germany will also be releasing its current account balance and trade balance. France has industrial production, trade and consumer prices due for release.  The European Commission will be publishing their first to third quarter GDP forecasts while the Eurozone reports industrial production.