- Greek Prime Minister does not rule out need for new financial aid package - Reuters
- Austrian FinMin Fekter: Euro group ministers agreed on euro zone firewall above 800 bln euro (exact details still awaited)
- EFSF’s Frankel: ESM, EFSF are ready to go. Sees full coordination between the 2 funds going well and says combination is big enough to stabilize markets
- German February prelim retail sales -1.1 m/m, +1.7% y/y vs Reuter’s median forecasts of +1.2%, +0.1% respectively
- French February consumer spending +3.0% m/m, demonstrably stronger than Reuter’s median forecast of +0.2%
- French February producer prices +0.8% m/m, stronger than Reuter’s median forercast of +0.5%
- Swiss KOF leading growth indicator 0.08 in March, stronger than Reuter’s median forecast of 0.04
- Spain February retail sales -6.4% y/y, as expected
- Roubini: Euro must come down to dollar’s level – CNBC
EUR/USD sits at 1.3350, to the pip where it was when I came in. Early rally got to 1.3376 before fizzling out, defence of well-touted barrier option interest at 1.3400 still proving durable. BIS seen selling circa 1.3365.
Reports have month end flows moderately bearish for the dollar versus likes of euro, cable and yen and very moderately bearish for dollar versus likes of aussie and canadian dollar. Ofcourse month end flows are only one part of the equation.
Cable at 1.6015. marginally firmer from early 1.5985. Cable has seen the most volatile price action this morning, but then again it’s cable.
USD/JPY effectively unchanged at 82.05. AUD/USD effectively unchanged at 1.0400.
