• U.S. lawmaker panel finalizes Wall St reform bill. It now heads to Senate, House votes
  • German May import prices +0.6% m/m, +8.5% y/y, stronger than median forecasts of +0.2%, +8.1% respectively
  • Greek 5-year cds hits record high at 1131 bps vs 1127 at New York close Thursday
  • ECB’s Nowotny: Sees no rational reason for Greece to be downgraded, reforms on track
  • French EcoMin: No reason to think that France’s AAA credit rating is at risk
  • Romania top court rules some pension-related austerity measures are against constitution. illegal – press. Leu falls
  • Russia C.Bank’s Ulyukayev: Not changing fx structure of reserves, including euro’s share
  • French Q1 GDP confirmed at +0.1% q/q. Q4 2009 revised to +0.6% from previous +0.5%
  • Dutch June business confidence -0.7% after +0.4% in May – cbs
  • Hungary’s govt plans to levy special bank tax for 2 years
  • Austrian CBank: Expects domestic bank sector to require more capital in mid-term due to regulation. Expects 8 bln euros writedowns by Austrian banks this year, stress scenario assumed 15 bln

European stocks opened a little firmer and have subsequently slipped back into negative territory. Nothing major though. Oil meanwhile is flat on the day. But it’s Friday and as we know the market has a tendency to steer clear of risk going into the weekend.

EUR/USD down at 1.2290 from early 1.2315 having been as low as 1.2253 at one stage. Large hedge fund was seen strong seller pushing pairing through 1.2300 as stocks gave up early gains. BIS and Middle Estern sovereign seen buying down around 1.2260/70 lending support. Talk of decent buy orders lined up down at 1.2240/50, stops just below there.

USD/JPY touch firmer, up at 89.65 from early 89.45. US bank seen notable buyer this morning. Decent buy orders said to lie at 89.20/25. Sell orders up at 89.70/80 have so far held the topside. Stops seen through 89.90 and 90.30.

Cable marignally lower. Down at 1.4915 from early 1.4955 having been as low as 1.4857 after decent stops through 1.4880 were tripped. Talk of corporate buy orders down at 1.4840/50. On topside buy stops seen through 1.5030 and 1.5050.