EU countries continue to lower their forecasts for GDP growth this year and next. Portugal is the latest, cutting 2010 the GDP outlook to 0.4% from 0.7%. 2011 looks like 0.8% from 1.4% previously.
It gets tougher and tougher to close deficits with a slow economy, a concern for all the major economies, but particularly the highly-indebted Club Med economies.
EUR/USD trades quietly at 1.3484 with Case Shiller home price data set for release at 13:00 GMT.
