- Tankan sentiment improves for the first time in two quarters
- ECB’s Noyer doesn’t expect larger EFSF
- Greece approves budget, predicts deficit of 8.5% of GDP vs. 7.6% target
- WSJ: BoA and Barclays raising more cash
- UK CBI: pace of growth in financial sector to slow
- Chinese PMI as expected
- Dutch PMI falls to a two-year low
- Shanghai, Australia closed for holidays
- JPY leads, EUR lags
The euro gapped lower at the open to the lowest since mid-January. The low print of 1.3322 came shortly after the open and then EUR/USD bounce 50 pips in the first four hours of trading. It has since drifted back down to toward the lows as large falls in Chinese financials trigger risk aversion.
Commodity currencies opened flat and even posted small gains in early trading but as Asia came on line a steady stream of sellers emerged. As of writing each member of the block has broken its recent range. NZD fell to lowest since May, AUD the lowest since Dec and USD/CAD at the highest in 13 months.
