- S&P 500 closes at 14 month high of 1114, up 0.7%
- Austria forced to nationalize Hypo Group by ECB
- Greek PM: “New deal” for Greece; decisions need to be taken over next three months that have been postponed for decades; tax on private-sector bankers’ bonuses to rise to 90%
- Obama leans on bank CEOs to resume small business lending, review executive comp
- USTR: Free trade pact being negotiated with Australian New Zealand, others
- Gold edges up to $1124; oil loses $0.20 to $69.67, US 10-yr notes steady at 3.54%
Risk sentiment improved a wee bit with Dubai getting over the the near-term hurdle of making payment on Nakheel’s sukuk and Citi wiggling out from under the thumb of the US government. Offsetting those upbeat headlines somewhat was news that Austria was forced to takeover Hypo Group (on orders from the ECB, it has been reported) and on sobering comments from the Greek PM laying out the difficult task ahead in getting the nations finances in order.
EUR/USD dipped to 1.4620 intraday in early New York but was supported on dips by sovereign bids ahead of 1.4600. Bounces were limited to 1.4650 for much of the US morning before a pop to 1.4665 in early afternoon.
There was a flurry of “risk trade” buying as EUR/USD made new highs, but once the flurry was over, prices soon retreated into deadly quiet ranges. AUD/JPY buying was seen around midday which helped push AUD/USD to 0.9175 and USD/JPY to 88.75 where both soon stalled.
GBP recovered lost ground and popped close to 1.6320. Traders were reluctant to chase the pound higher given failures in the 1.6340/45 area in recent days.
USD/JPY recovered after Japanese sales linked to the Mitsubishi UFJ capital raising in Tokyo, but only marginally, reaching 88.75 from 88.30 lows in London.
