- EU’s Almunia: Don’t rush into euros, China
- Barclays raises US Q1 2010 GDP forecast to 5%, sees first Fed hike Q3 2010
- US lets money market fund guarantee expire as crisis passes
- Speculative short dollar positions on IMM rise to highest since March 2008
- ECRI weekly index rises to new record. US GDP grew at 22.9% annual rate in latest week
- IMF’s Strauss-Kahn: Recovery on track for H1 2010, if not sooner
- G-20 will discuss adopting Tobin Tax at Pittsburgh summit; currencies not on agenda
- S&P 500 rises 0.25%, US 10-year notes rise 8 bp in yield; gold slips to $1006
Cable was under pressure ahead of the New York session and the selling dd not let up for long during the New York session either. We close the week on our lows, around 1.6235. Fears of a UK debt crunch, jitters that Lloyds bank was not seen as strong enough by the UK government to exit is toxic asset scheme and anticipation of lower UK interest rates in the months ahead combined to croak the pound.
EUR/GBP shot up as high as 0.9057 after a very spirited battle ahead of 0.9000 barriers was won by the bulls.
Central banks were on both sides of the market in Cable today. India bough the first dip to 1.6300 but the BIS was a noted seller at 1.6325. GBP/JPY sellers were noted during the US afternoon as the cross slumped below 148.50.
EUR/USD definitely played second fiddle today, a rarity in US markets. It slumped on profit-taking, but dips were cushioned by the huge interest to buy EUR/GBP. 1.4680/90 contained dips in relatively restrained trade.
USD/JPY rallied close to resistance at 91.63, reaching 91.54 in New York. Selling by Japanese exporters and GBP/JPY longs helped keep the greenback below the growing stash of stop-loss buy orders beginning at 91.70 and extending through 92.20.
AUD succumbed to profit-taking in New York as Gold ended lower and the dollar caught a rare breather versus the other majors, We end in the lower end of the range, around 0.8665.
Have a terrific weekend all and happy Talk Like a Pirate Day on Saturday. Arrgghhh…
