• Swedish C/B Minutes-Ekholm: Stronger Real Crown Exchange Rate Justified Considering Strong Swedish Growth
  • Swedish C/B: Pains Should Be Taken To Avoid A Situation In Which Crown Strengthening Proceeds So Rapidly That Inflation Ends Up Far Below Target
  • Russia Does Not Support Numerical Targets for Current Account, Says Needs Several Targets – Russia’s G20 Sherpa
  • Russia Says G20 Should Hold Consultations before Steps Such As Us Fed’s Quantitative Easing – Russia’s G20 Sherpa
  • Indian Pm Says Fast Growing U.S. Economy in Interest of the World
  • Obama Says Worst Thing for World Economy is if US Economy Stuck with no Growth or Low Growth
  • Irish/German 10-Yr Govt Bond Yield Widens to 548bps, Up 11bps on the Day
  • Greek/German 10-Yr Govt Bond Yield Narrows to 900bps, Down 24bps on the Day
  • EZ Sentix Index Rises to 14.0 in Nov from 8.8 in Oct
  • German Sept Exports +3.0% on month (f’cast 1.5%)
  • German Sept Imports -1.5% on month
  • German Sept trade surplus E16.8bln vs. E9bln in Aug
  • German Sept C/A Surplus E14bln vs. 5bln in Aug
  • New Delhi-Geithner: Chinese Supportive Of G20 Rebalancing Framework, Expects Broad Consensus
  • German factory output in Sept -0.8% m/m

It has been a choppy session with stuttering moves as players try to weigh up the negativeness of QE2 versus EU peripheral debt woes. The big moves were witnessed in Asia with Europe content to trade a tight range first up. EUR/JPY stops below 112.80 got EUR/USD down to 1.3906 before poor German factory out put pushed it through 1.3900. It has all been about the Euro and Ireland.

EUR/USD has remained under pressure since Friday as peripheral EU debt woes, conveniently forgotten since mid October (in favour of QE2) come to the fore. Greek woes from Friday were supplanted by Irish woes with govt yield spreads German/Ireland and German/Greece going in different directions. German data was mixed. Good trades numbers against poor factory output numbers. In Asia stops below 1.4000 set the day in motion. Intraday range 1.3891-1.4085; last at 1.3916.

USD/JPY has remained heavy for most of the day with EUR/JPY sales/stops the main drag. The pair was supported in Asia by the strong Nikkei (+1.1%) but sellers appeared in London whilst EUR/JPY stops took their toll. The jump in USD/JPY on Friday night provided bids around the figure (which held) by those who missed Fridays move. Intraday range 81.00-44; last at 81.10.

GBP/USD has held its own today through support by heavy EUR/GBP sales. EUR/GBP and EUR/CHF remained pressured by Irish woes. Range seen in Asia has held in London. Intraday range 1.6104-1.6212; last at 1.6133.

AUD/USD has been buffeted by EUR/USD but remains a lagging pair. The pair broke through the Asia low of 1.0090 on the dip in EUR/USD below 1.39 before quickly returning to prices above 1.0100. AUD/NZD is up nearly 70 points on the day as excessive long NZD positions are unwound. Intraday range 1.0078-1.0082; last at 1.0105.

European stocks are close to flat on the day. FTSE the worse – down 0.3%. US equity futures are down 0.3%. The Nikkei and the Shanghai Composite were the standouts in Asia up 1.1% and 0.96% respectively.

Gold is down around $4.00 from the NY close whilst Nymex crude has lost 40 cents in the December contract.