- ZEW February German economic sentiment index 5.4, up sharply from -21.6 in January and demonstrably stronger than Reuter’s median forecast of -12.0
- Polish FinMin: Greece’s euro exit less damaging now than in 2011
- Austrian FinMin: Confident Greece will get more aid
- Dutch auction results
- Spanish auction results
- Greek auction results
- Italian auction results
- Belgium auction results
- UK January CPI -0.5% m/m, +3.6% y/y, as expected
- BOE’s King: January fall in CPI rate reflects last year’s VAT rise falling out of statistics; petrol, food inflation have also fallen
- Euro zone December industrial production -1.1% m/m, -2.0% y/y vs Reuter’s median forecasts of -1.2%, -1.0% respectively
- BOJ’s Shirakawa: Japan economy headed for moderate recovery but outlook highly uncertain
- China’s Wen: Enhancing EU-China trade is the most important issue
- UK’s Osborne: Moody’s action reality check for Britain, can’t waiver from dealing with debt
- European Council Pres Van Rompuy: Macroeconomic fundamentals in eurozone are sound
More nasty choppiness this morning. If the trend’s your friend, then we’re all feeling pretty lonely right about now.
EUR/USD up at 1.3200 from early 1.3160. Inbetween we’ve been down to 1.3127 and up as high as 1.3216.
Early selling ran into BIS, ACB buying interest and we steadied. BIS was later seen selling up around 1.3185 (nice job) but a succession of solid euro zone auctions and surprisingly strong German ZEW data (see above) enabled us to trade above 1.3200.
Cable up at 1.5755 from early 1.5710. Sell orders were noted up at 1.5750/70 and they’ve just about held the topside so far.
USD/JPY steady at 78.00. Sell orders layered now from 78.20 through 78.50, where barrier option interest is said to lie.
