- Belgian business sentiment improves to -7.7 in Feb from -9.5 in January ahead of Ifo tomorrow
- US existing home sales rise 4.3% in January from downwardly revised December figures
- LCH cuts extra margin on Irish debt to 15% from 25%
- Greek debt swap law passes in committee, heads to full Parliament for a vote Thursday
- Merkel repeats call for European transaction tax; Euro area countries must do their homework
- Greek FinMin: Bankruptcy no longer a threat; Greek state chokes economic activity
- Goldman recommends GBP/NOK shorts
- Aussie PM calls press conference for 22:30 GMT
- S&P 500 falls 0.3% to 1358, European shares down 1% on average
- US 10 year note falls 5.7 bp to 2.00%
- Gold jumps $17.50 to $1777; highest close of 2012; WTI down 0.25 to $106.00
A deadly quiet US session. We tested the range base in the 1.3211 area near mid-morning in NY, failed to break lower and jumped back up to 1.3267 session highs an hour later before stalling. We end in technical no-man’s land at 1.3245.
USD/JPY edged to a seven-month high at 80.406 in late morning trade but stalled short of reported barriers at 80.50. We close at 80.29.
Cable was knocked lower in London by dovish MPC minutes and never really recovered. US range 1.5650/1.5700.
