- Merkel: Euro in very ‘decisive phase’ on Greece , everyone should weigh their words , no indication that IMF will pullout of Greek aid program.- MNI
- China announces “stimulus projects” to boost economy -Telegraph
- U.K. Hometrack August housing survey falls 0.1% m/m and falls 0.5% y/y , fell for 2nd month amid a “fragile market”.
- PBOC sets yuan rate at 6.3392 from 6.3305 on Friday . (AUD/USD and NZD/USD sold off sharply).
- China July industrial profits down 2.7% y/y , continued weak numbers out of China .
- HSBC lowers China GDP forecast to 8% in 2012 and 8.5% in 2013.
- South Korea: bad news , consumer sentiment falls to 99, a 7 month low , signaling the economy may not have bottomed yet. Good news Moody’s upgrades them to AA3 citing strong fiscal fundamentals.
EUR/USD ; Consolidated around 1.2505/10 most of the session with high of 1.2524 and low of 1.2492. Merkel/Hollande/Samaras talks did very little to add to the excitement today. A few numbers out of Germany keeping the EUR/USD range bound for the time being . Support 1.2480, resistance 1.2550.
USD/JPY : Ran stops through 78.75 touching a high of 78.84. A mix of offers and stops up through 79.00. Solid bids at 78.50 from left behind importers. Continued position liquidation against cross commodity currencies ( AUD/NZD/CAD) kept the USD/JPY bid during part of the session. Higher oil prices caused by Hurricane Issac was also keeping USD/JPY firm though out the day .
AUD/USD : Failed to take out the stops above 1.0440 , and drifted lower to support level at 1.0400 . Immediately after the Yuan fix , AUD/USD went from 1.0415 to a low of 1.0372 after scattered stops were touched . Good buying interest down at the 1.0370 /75 level stopped the free-fall. With long term commodity price weakness due to China and global economic slowdowns , the AUD/USD is looking vulnerable to another round of selling .
