- Japan govt official: BOJ definition of price stability means declaring exit from easy policy distant
- Japan MOF’s Noda: Japan won’t suffer double-dip in Jan-March
- German EconMin Bruederle: Some EU states have serious weakness, can endanger rest
- Greek/German 10-year govt bond yield spread hits euro lifetime wide at 393 bps
- S&P: Wants to see Portugal’s EU stability programme before deciding on rating. Looks beyound 2010 budget. Concern over Portugal public finances has not abated since budget
- Italy January business confidence rises to 83.2 vs 82.4 in December, slightly below median forecast of 83.4 but still highest level since June 2008
- German January s.a. jobless total +6k, better than median forecast +18k. Jobless total s.a 3.429 mln, or 8.2%
- Moody’s: Portugal’s latest budget projections reveal challenges ahead. Transparent, credible deficit reduction plan needed to stabilise Portugal rating where it stands. Risks euro zone interest rates may rise too fast than appropriate for Portugal
- Euro zone January economic sentiment indicator 95.7 vs upwardly revised 94.1 in December, better than median forecast of 92.4
- SKorea FinMin; More steps to enhance soundness of fx assets possible. Forex steps would apply to all banks regardless of nationality. Not considering direct control measures on forex liquidity
- Russia FinMin Kudrin: Does not expect euro zone woes to have impact on euro, russia reserve policy. Expects euro to strengthen
- Chinese economic official: No inflation in China now – State tv
Plenty of noise this morning, but when all said and done not a lotta change on most of the majors. EUR/USD was at 1.4015 when I started 7 hours ago, presently at 1.4002. USD/JPY was at 90.30, presently at 90.25. Sums it up really. Cable has seen biggest net change, up about 1/2 a cent, but that’s chicken feed for that particular pairing.
EUR/USD managed an early rally which saw it post 1.4052 session high. ACB and model fund sellling seen around the highs then helped pressure the pairing lower, as various rating agencies/German EconMin made cautious comments re the likes of Portugal and Greece (see above). The Greek/German 10-year govt bond yield spread hit a lifetime wide at 393 bps.
USD/JPY rallied early. There was talk of sell orders lined up at 90.40/60 and the rally topped out at 90.55 with a large Japanese automaker selling around the high.
Cable rallied strongly reaching a session high 1.6276 where an Asian sovereign stepped in selling decent amounts. Could have been a bit of profit taking, ACB’s having been notable buyers recently under 1.6130. UK oil company was in again buying which lent underpinning. This goes on through till Monday.
AUD/USD sohwing no net change on the day, presently at .9020.