LIVE FOREX QUOTES

Markets were relatively quiet ahead of tomorrow's employment report and the dollar traded slightly firmer amid Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony in Washington. The Fed Chairman warned of fiscal policy risks and called for close monitoring of economic developments. On the Fed's mandates, he said that inflation looks ''very well controlled'' but that the Fed wants more progress on unemployment. When questioned on the topic of QE, Bernanke only noted that the policy is similar to the usual policy of cutting rates. Economic data released this morning showed that U.S. weekly initial jobless claims fell by 12k to 367k from the prior 379k (cons. 371k). The data was better than expected and showed that the labor market is slowly progressing but at a sluggish pace. Sentiment is mixed as markets have now shifted focus to tomorrow's BLS report.

The Bank of England's Posen said that he is leaning towards more QE and that there is a case for another 75B pounds of stimulus. The pound was mostly softer today, declining against all of the G10 currencies expect the NOK. GBP/USD is slightly lower on the day but continues to trade within its approximately 2-week long bullish channel which sees support around the 1.5760/65 area. This is also where the 100-hour sma and top of the daily ichimoku cloud converge.

The euro was mixed as Greek PSI talks continue. Sovereign yield spreads were mostly tighter as the ECB was said to be purchasing Portuguese bonds.  Earlier comments from Eurogroup head Juncker brought the euro lower. He noted that the Jan. 30 EU summit measures are ''largely insufficient'' and that Greek debt negotiations are ''ultra-difficult''. Olli Rehn was also on the wires and said that the EU is going through a ''mild recession'' which will be ''much nastier'' if the crisis is not resolved. EUR/USD is marginally lower on the session and currently around 1.3145/50 as it consolidates ahead of key releases.

Elsewhere in Europe, SNB interim chairman Jordan spoke and said that the bank is ready to buy currency in unlimited quantities. He noted that the franc is facing pressure from the euro crisis and political issues and that investors should not doubt the SNB's FX capabilities. EUR/CHF traded only slightly higher in response to the comments and the pair currently remains below the 200-day sma.

U.S. equities were choppy and finished the day relatively flat. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by about -0.09% to close out the day and the S&P 500 ended the session up around +0.11%. Precious metals are higher with gold and silver currently up by about +0.97% and +1.85% respectively while WTI crude is softer by nearly -1.06% at time of writing. U.S. 10-year Treasury yields are unchanged and currently around 1.85%.

On the data front for the upcoming Asia/Pacific session are China's official and unofficial non-manufacturing PMI's for January and December industrial profits. Australia will see the release of the January AiG performance of service index and December net migration numbers are due out of New Zealand.