- Empire State manufacturing index falls to 11.9 in May from 21.7 in April
- US long-term TIC inflows slow to $24.0 bln in March; overall net flows $116 bln surplus
- NAHB index unchanged at 16
- Strauss-Kahn denied bail in NY sex assault case
- EU finance ministers approve EUR 78 bln bailout for Portugal
- Pressure builds for more rapid Greek privatizations
- US consulting firm sees steady BOJ policy; no new liquidity programs at next meeting
- S&P 500 falls 0.6% to 1329
- US 10 year note yields fall 1.8 bp to 3.15%
- oil falls 2.61 to $97.04; gold falls $3.30 to 1491.50
EUR/USD rallied throughout the US morning, rising as far as 1.4245 on a combination of sovereign dip buying, short-covering and string buying from a Boston-based custody bank.
The buying dried up at midday and the single currency slipped back to close at 1.4175 after turning its attention to falling oil and equities. Few surprises were seen at the meeting of EU finance ministers.
USD/JPY slipped on risk aversion after a strong buy order in EUR/JPY was filled at midday. A US consulting shop put out a report predicting the BOJ would refrain from any further liquidity provision at the upcoming BOJ meeting. 80.70/95 was the uneventful range.
USD/CHF reversed nearly all the ais posted on Friday, end the day at 0.8835. 0.8800/89 was the NY range.
EUR/CHF ends at 1.2525, with 1.25 centimes of all-time lows. Massive stops are still rumored below 1.2400.
AUD/USD triggered stops above 1.0595/00 this morning, reaching 1.0640 on short-covering before drifting lower in the afternoon. We end right near 1.0590 support.
