The JPY and USD have firmed overnight in Asia, bolstered by heightened risk aversion. Sentiment has been soured by the news surrounding the major U.S. automakers. GM chief Wagoner has been forced to resign by Obama, with the autos task force rejecting the funding proposals of the big 3 auto makers.
The automakers must now overhaul their recovery plans with deeper concessions to justify further tax payer help. An Obama administration official opined that bankruptcy may ultimately be their best chance.
Also bolstering the JPY are year-end repatriation purchases, while the euro is still weighed down by Steinbrueck’s comments about euro zone fiscal responsibility and ongoing speculation the ECB will soon trigger another rate cut and most probably move to quantitative ease.
Economic data for release today:
08:00 GMT: Euro-zone, German, French and Italian Bloomberg retail PMI (Mar)
08:30 GMT: UK net lending sec. on dwellings (Feb) expected 0.9 bln
08:30 GMT: UK net consumer credit (Feb) expected 0.4 bln
08:30 GMT: UK mortgage approvals (Feb) expected 34k
08:30 GMT: UK M4 money supply-final (Feb)
09:00 GMT: Euro zone business climate indicator (Mar) expected -3.30
09:00GMT: Euro zone consumer confidence (Mar) expected -33
09:00 GMT; Euro zone economic confidence (Mar) expected 65.8
09:00 GMT: Euro zone industrial confidence (Mar) expected -35
09:00 GMT: Euro zone services confidence (Mar)
