EUR/USD is steadying after it’s precipitous fall earlier, presently up at 1.4080 having been rather close to 1.4000 at one stage. There is probably no one reason for the euro’s fall from grace, rather a combination of factors in play. Upfront from a fundamental standpoint will no doubt be the parlous state of euro-zone banking sector. Only today we had France, Belgium and Luxembourg combining to rescue Dexia, while the Irish government moved to introduce safeguards for its banking system. Meanwhile there’s the forlorn figure of Fortis wandering the Globe looking for a buyer for its’ ABN Amro stake. There has also been some speculation (not really surprising given Thursdays ECB meet)that the European central bank might just be tempted to ease monetary policy given the state of the banking sector, signs of slowing growth and with inflationary pressures possibly peaking. They just might, but then again I don’t really think so. Another more tenuous reason for the sell-off might be, that one day on, there is some increased optimism that there is the political will to get a U.S. bailout passed, although this remains to be seen. Technical considerations will have accelerated the move lower, as various notable chart levels gave out. And certainly a huge EUR/GBP order, to sell apparently 3.5 yards of euros at the fix (said to have been a U.K. clearer), will have been a nice little spark for what transpired.