- Nationwide April UK house prices -0.4% m/m, -15.0% y/y. Better than median forecasts of -1.2% and -15.8% respectively
- German April s.a jobless +58k. Slightly better than median forecast +65k. Unemployed total 3.585 mln or 8.3%
- Italy Industry Minister sees “reasonable optimism” that Fiat-Chrysler deal can be signed Thursday
- ECB’s Nowotny: Does not think swine flu will effect global economy as situation stands at present
- Euro zone March unemployment rises to 8.9%. Worse than median forecast of 8.7%
- Eur zone April inflation estimated at +0.6%, unchanged from March and in line with median forecast
- Bomb alert at French nuclear power station at Chinon. Evacuated but still running. EDF says expects to know within few hours if any bomb present
Very active morning in Europe. Day started off with risk appetite to the fore, likes of euro, sterling and aussie all rallying strongly. These three currencies were all helped by talk of month-end, equity-related, USD sales lined up for the 15:00 GMT fix later today.
Cable reached session high 1.4947 and EUR/USD session high 1.3384.
However things started to turn a little sour on the release of German April unemployment data. Although really no worse than expected, the numbers helped highlight the parlous unemployment situation in Europe and subsequently dented risk appetite.
Things then turned from bad to worse, when euro zone unemployment for March showed a rise to 8.9% (worse than median forecast of 8.7%), and then news of a bomb alert at a French nuclear power station hit the wires.
This double whammy sent EUR/USD briefly below 1.3300. We’re presently back at 1.3310. BIS was seen in buying around 1.3310.
Cable sits at 1.4875, still up a good 1/2 cent on the day, but 3/4’s of a cent off earlier high.
