- Troika statement on progress of Portugal program – MNI
- Spain Budget Minister: Spain is in “critical” situation – Dow Jones
- Spain March jobless rises 0.8% m/m, by 38,769 people to 4.75 mln
- Italy Industry Minister: Rules out additional budget cuts, says austerity alone will not produce growth
- UK March construction PMI 56.7, up from 54.3 in February and demonstrably stronger than median forecast of 53.5
- Euro zone February producer prices +0.6% m/m, +3.6% y/y
- Hollande widens second-round lead over Sarkozy, poll shows – Bloomberg
- ‘Island of the blind’ riles Greek public facing cutbacks – WSJ
Thank goodness it’s a short week is all I’m sayin.
EUR/USD sits at 1.3340, to the pip where it was when I arrived this morning. Selling by BIS and ACB in the 1.3350/55 area stymied attempts at meaningful rally early. Eventually we did get some upside momentum but things fizzled out around 1.3367, the single currency not helped by comment from Spanish Budget Minister (see above)
Obviously there are reports of sell orders clustered up at 1.3380/00 ahead of 1.3400 barrier option interest. I’m losing count of how many times I’ve repeated that bit of info in recent sessions. Reports have buy stops through both 1.3400 and 1.3405 (take your pick, what’s 5 pips between friends)
USD/JPY unchanged at 82.00. Talk of buy orders clustered 81.80/85 and more down at 81.50/60, sell stops gathering below there. On topside, buy stops noted through 82.25.
USD/CHF effectively unchanged at .9020, defence of well-touted barrier option interest down at .9000 continuing to provide support.
