- US Feb durable goods orders +2.2% vs +3.0% exp
- German preliminary CPI +2.1% y/y vs +2.2% exp
- Canada house prices +6.5% y/y in Jan
- Draft EU statement says firewall to grow to 940 billion euros, BBG
- Report that actual lending capacity will only be 700 billion
- ECB’s Weidmann says inflation pressures to rise in Germany
- Australian Treasurer says surplus will be more difficult
- Spanish fin min frets on growth
- McCrann talks up chance of RBA cut next week
- US CEOs investing and employing
- Greece extends deadline for banks to report earnings
- S&P 500 down 0.5% to 1405
- JPY leads, AUD lags
Risk aversion sparked a rally in USD and JPY in the early going. Worries about Spain and the weather effect in the US were the main catalysts but it had the feeling of a market shifted by quarter end flows.
EUR/USD opened at 1.3333 but that was the US high as it fell to 1.3276 around the London fix. Better stock market sentiment aided an afternoon rebound back near opening levels.
USD/JPY edged up to 83.18 in the early going but stumbled back to 82.67. The 82.60 support level has been difficult to crack this week and the pair edged higher, in part due to a soft US 5-year note auction.
The 200-day moving average at 1.5848 supported a drop in cable and the pair has rebounded to 1.5892.
Commodity currencies were weak with USD/CAD kissing parity and AUD/USD falling below the 100-day moving average.
