- ECB’s Mersch: Dismisses ‘wild expectatons’ of 50 bps rate cut - Market News Intl
- German September Ifo business climate 107.5. Not as bad a Reuters’ median forecast of 106.5
- Ifo’s Abberger: Firms are sceptical about the future, expect no further stimulus from abroad
- EU central bank official: ECB considering restarting covered bond purchases – Bloomberg
- Polish FinMin: Euro crisis to hit surplus countries as much as others
- ECB’s Nowotny: ECB interest rate cuts cannot be excluded – Market News Intl
- ECB’s Nowotny: Sense of protectionism has grown in Germany, less appetite for bailouts
- ECB’s Bonnici: Need to wait for more hard data to judge economic situation better
- ECB’s Makuch: Euro zone CPI set to slow on slower growth
- BOE’s Broadbent: Slow US growth, euro zone debt crisis and its effect on bank financing threatens further slowdown in UK domestic activity
- BOE’s Broadbent: UK rebalancing to take longer than previous recessions. Came close to voting for more QE at September meeting
- ECB’s Knot: Calls for automatic sanctions and compulsory recovery programs for EU countries with high deficits
- Europe split on rescue plan – WSJ
Extremely hectic start to the week. We started against the backdrop of acute risk aversion which has given way to risk appetite (well a little appetite, nothing major)
EUR/USD up at 1.3520 from early 1.3405. Initially the pairing came under heavy pressure as precious metals (especially silver), commodities, stocks etc all came under strong pressure. We got down to 1.3361 before an impressive rebound.
Hawkish comments from ECB’s Mersch (see above) and better than expected Ifo data helped matters early and talk ECB considering restarting covered bond purchases has helped extend the recovery.
Gold was at 1610 when I sat down. Was dragged lower by plummeting silver (reaction to hike in silver margins by the Shanghai gold exchange) to 1537-ish before rebounding all the way back to 1630 at writing. Alright if you like rollercoaster rides, I guess.
Cable up at 1.5535 from early 1.5455, the tripping of buy stops in the 1.5505/10 area accelerating the ascent.
USD/JPY remains confined to a very narrow range. At 76.25 very marginally easier from early 76.40.
AUD/USD has been all over the map. Started around .9715, sold off to .9611 before rebounding strongly in line with precious metals/commodities. We’re presently all the way up at .9815.
