- Greek/German 10-yr bond yield spread widens to 12-year high of 502bps
- France pledges Max. E6.3bln aid for Greece as part of the E30bln EU aid package – Largarde
- UK Unemployment Rate 8.0%
- BOE voted 9-0 to maintain rates at 0.5% and keep QE at 200bln
- UK March Claimant Count -32.9k (f’cast -10k) rate 4.8%
- Portugal has successful T-bill auction in th e3 & 9-mth tenors
- German Govt. forecast GDP +1.4% in 2010, +1.6% in 2011
- German FinMin Schaeuble will not attend G20 due to health
- USD/CNY 1-yr onshore forward prices drops sharply as market prepares for bigger than expected Yuan appreciation
- German FinMin tells parliament to prepare for request for Greek aid
[Theme] remains the excruciating weak Euro. Sellers have lowered their orders and the pair refuses to bounce. Market reacts to every negative European comment but fails to react to any positive comments. Whilst it may be an overwhelming bearish market it would be a brave person to counter trade and go long at the moment.
[EUR/USD] The Euro remains weak against the field in London. EUR/GBP breaks below 0.8700 whilst EUR/AUD and EUR/CAD tumble. The inability of EUR/USD to rally saw a sharp reaction to an obvious comment from the German FinMin that the Greeks are preparing to tap the EU/IMF aid package. This was the trigger needed for EUR/USD to crash below 1.34 tripping stops down to 1.3385. Sell orders parked at 1.3450 capped the topside today. Intraday range 1.3381-1.3447; last at 1.3390.
[USD/JPY] was steady most of the session hovering around 92.30 ahead of option expiries in NY. The pair fell in sync with EUR/USD after the German FinMin comment – prepare for Greece to tap aid package. Intraday range 92.94-94.41; last at 93.00.
[GBP/USD] got a fillip on the back of better than expected Claimant Count fall and heavy EUR/GBP sales. GBP/USD topped out at 1.5441 and was holding arounf 1.5420 before the German FinMin comments. Intraday range 1.5332-1.5441; last at 1.5390.
[AUD/USD] continues to hold up very well despite the Euro woes. The 0.9394 low was seen in early Sydney on AUD/JPY profit taking but quickly corrected. Order/option at 0.9340 capped. Lost a little on the German FinMin comment. Intraday range 0.9294-0.9339; last at 0.9308.
Asian equities mostly up led by Nikkei +1.74%; European bourses mixed – FTSE -0.9, Dax +1.6%. US futures indicating small losses on the open. Gold basically unchanged from NY close at $1142.00 an ounce.
