- Fitch places major Australian banks on rating watch negative
- ECB’s Makuch: Certain possibility of euro zone falling into recession exists
- We’re on the brink, warns Greece ahead of summit – The Telegraph
- German FinMin spokesman: Greece still has “deficits” in implementing program
- Irish Minister: If voters rejected fiscal treaty would be hard for country to remain in euro
- French FinMin: Crisis is of “violent,”, “unprecedented” kind
- Italian auction
- ECB said to have bought Italian bonds this morning
- Euro zone economic sentiment rises to 93.4 in January, up from revised 92.8 in December, but marginally weaker than Reuter’s median forecast of 93.8
- Spain prelim Q4 GDP -0.3% q/q, +0.3% y/y, pretty much in line with Reuters’ median forecasts -0.3%, +0.2% respectively
- Italy January business confidence falls to 92.1 from 92.5 in December, weaker than Reuter’s median forecast of 92.8 and lowest read since November 2009
Risk off to start the week. European stocks appreciably lower, gold lower, US treasury yields lower. Oil though pretty much unchanged.
You only need to read the headlines above to get an idea of the state of play.
EUR/USD down at 1.3125 from early 1.3165 having been as low as 1.3107. Middle Eastern/BIS buying slowed, but didn’t reverse, the sell-off. In fact sounds like the Middle Eastern buying was pretty persistent.
Cable down marginally at 1.5685 from early 1.5700, having recovered from session low 1.5652. Middle Eastern buying also noted in this pairing.
USD/JPY effectively unchanged at 76.65.
AUD/USD down at 1.0550 from early 1.0570, having been as low as 1.0521. Aussie came under pressure right from the get go in the wake of Fitch putting aussie banks on rating watch negative (RWN)
