- Canadian retail sales rise +0.7%, ex-autos +1.8% in January
- Greek PM: We’re only one step away from being unable to borrow
- BA cabin crews set to strike after talks break down
- Frnce/Germany remain at odds over IMF role for Greece
- Merkel: Euro a victim of speculation ; urges tighter controls of hedge funds
- Reserve Bank of India raises repo rate 0.25%
- EU’s Barrosso: Must move quickly to agree on Greek aid package
- Canadian PM Harper: Excessive CAD rise could harm recovery
- S&P 500 falls 0.5% to 1160; US 2-yr yields rise 0.4%, 10s rise 0.3% to 3.69%
- Gold falls $20 to 1106 after Indian rate hike
- Oil falls $1.59 to $80.61 on firm dollar
EUR/USD extended London’s losses, triggering stops after working through strong bids in the 1.3530/40 area. Comments from the Greek PM that Greece is close to be unable to borrow and an unexpected Indian rate hike helped fuel a bout of risk aversion.
While China has been hinting at rate hikes, India, the I in BRIC, has hiked twice this year. Gold tumbled toward $1100 after the move while oil fell $2 intraday before closing down 1.60 at $80.60.
EUR/USD fell as low as 1.3503 before rebounding into the low 1.3540s in very quiet afternoon trade.
Cable was weighed down by comments from the BOE’s Sentance that a double-dip recession is a possibility as well as a threatened British Airways strike tonight. It fell to 1.4990 before edging up to close at 1.5018.
USD/CAD fell to 18 month lows after CPI rose above the BOC’s 2.0% target, to 2.1% and retail sales exceeded expectations. The commodities slide sparked short-covering later in the day. We rebounded from 1.0065 lows to end at 1.0165.
Have a great weekend all!
