- Buba’s Weber: Rescue fund idea counter productive
- CEA’s Romer: Labor market will be slow to recover; must tackle unemployment before tightening fiscal policy
- Chicago Fed’s Evans: Labor market weaker than it appears; rates appropriate
- Greek debt manager: Not looking to issue debt soon
- Greek FinMin: Borrowing costs too high
- Greek PM: Obama agrees curbs on speculation must be a priority at G20
- WSJ: Barclays in the hunt for US acquisitions
- S&P 500 edges up 0.2%, closes 10 points below 2010 high
- US 2-year notes slip 3 bp to 0.87%, 10-yr notes fall 3 bp to 3.69%
EUR/USD opened on the defensive and fell to ession lows early in the day. The hang-over from critical comments from Fitch on UK, Spanish and French debt set the tone early. EUR/USD fell to 1.3537 but bounced from just ahead of the post-payrolls low from Friday at 1.3530. Prices rallied to 1.3617 in early afternoon trade as disappointed shorts covered and US share prices rallied. EUR/USD dipped back below 1.3600 late in the afternoon as the US stock rally faded. We end at 1.3601 with stocks up modestly on the day.
Cable was sold heavily on the comments from Fitch suggesting UK budget cuts were too slow in coming. We probed 1.4940 several times but bounced back amid the usual talk of central bank demand on dips. Rebounds reached 1.5015 and we end at 1.5000.
USD/JPY was boosted by US buying on dips. Selling of JPY was particularly heavy against the AUD today, with US custodial banks the most prevalent buyers of the cross. Risk aversion eased during the session, helping USD/JPY recover toward the 90.00 area where we end the day from 89.70 lows.
AUD was the standout during the US ssession. It bounced sharply from a test of the 100-day moving average at 90.60 before stalling just shy of the 76.4% retracement of the 0.9330/0.8576 decline, which comes in at 0.9152. We topped at 0.9147.
Tonight’s Chinese data dump for February will be closely eyed but traders are concerned about the distortions from the long lunar new year holiday. Best of luck!
