- Case-Shiller home price index falls 2.2% in February from -2.8% in January; falls 18.6% versus year-ago
- US consumer confidence rises to 39.2 in April from 26.9 in March
- Richmond Fed survey rebounds to -9 in April from -20 in March
- ECB’s Bini Smaghi: Quantitative ease to focus on banking channel; must be prepared to reverse quickly
- 64 confirmed cases of swine flu in US, 2 possible deaths in California
- US senator Specter switches parties; gives Democrats filibuster proof majority
- Chinese commerce minister: Dollar to remain reserve currency despite deficiencies; China cannot recover without US rebound; warns against protectionism.
- US 10-year note yields close above 3.00%
- US equities close fractionally lower; S&P down 0.3%
EUR/USD made a low very early in US trade but soon rebounded strongly as central bank buying, a recovery in overnight stock futures losses and modestly improved economic data from the US all helped spark short-covering. The rally reached 1.3166, essentially retracing all of the “Swine decline” from early Monday in Asia through early today in New York.New York range: 1.2965/1.3066.
USD/JPY recovered as the EUR crosses saw solid short-covering. from 95.63 late in Asia/early in Europe we reached 97.66 during the US afternoon.NY range 96.67/97.70
AUD/USD traded in similar fashion to the JPY crosses, rising along with EUR/USD as swine flu fears dissipated some. It reache d0.7100 before easing to 0.7065 after the comments from China that it will not recover without the US. New York range 0.7000/0.7100
