German January Industrial production
Monday, 8 March 2010
FX Market Overview
It was a weekend where David slew Goliath. Low budget Iraq war thriller “Hurt Locker” punched well above its weight winning the Best Film award ahead of “Avatar”, the most expensive movie ever-made. Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman in the Academy’s history to win Best Director with Hurt Locker.
British tennis which is supported by a £30m annual budget sunk to an all-time low after the British Davis Cup team was beaten by Lithuania whose annual tennis budget is £90k, or the equivalent of 1-day worth of Britain’s budget.
90% of Icelandic citizens voted in a referendum against paying back £5bn of its debt to the UK and Netherlands.
Last week’s big number the US nonfarm payrolls release on Friday was much stronger than anticipated. Analysts were expecting the inclement weather to have contributed to 50k-150k lost jobs in February. The blizzard’s impact wasn’t as bad as expected with only 36k jobs lost allowing the markets to rally going into the weekend on rising investor confidence.
Safe haven currencies such as the US dollar and Japanese were sold in favour of riskier currencies like the Aussie and Kiwi dollars after the strong US employment number. Progress in Greece has also raised investor’s risk appetite as Euro meltdown appears less likely.
The Euro has bounced off its lows as the crisis in Greece appears to be abating. French President Sarkozy has come out in support, applauding the “courage” of the Greek austerity plan, saying the Eurozone was ready to help Greece. This contrasts with German Chancellor Merkel who shot down claims of a Greek rescue package while other German officials suggested Greece start flogging off its beautiful islands to pay back its debts.
The pound remains weak ahead of the general election as current polls suggest the Conservatives still don’t have a majority. The YouGov poll had the Conservatives on 38% against 33% for Labour, while the ICM poll has the Tories on 40% against Labour’s 31%. Uncertainty is bad news for markets, so any clarity regarding the likely winner on May 6th for support the pound.
Data is thin on the ground this morning with German January industrial production being the only major figure of note at 11:00am. Bank of England member Kate Barker and European Central Bank President Jean Claude Trichet are both speaking after that.
An elephant hired for a Hindu wedding in New Delhi caused more than £200,000 damage trying to reach an in-heat female. It crushed 20 limousines and later attempted to mate with a truck before smashing through a shopping mall in a 15-hour rampage.
British tennis which is supported by a £30m annual budget sunk to an all-time low after the British Davis Cup team was beaten by Lithuania whose annual tennis budget is £90k, or the equivalent of 1-day worth of Britain’s budget.
90% of Icelandic citizens voted in a referendum against paying back £5bn of its debt to the UK and Netherlands.
Last week’s big number the US nonfarm payrolls release on Friday was much stronger than anticipated. Analysts were expecting the inclement weather to have contributed to 50k-150k lost jobs in February. The blizzard’s impact wasn’t as bad as expected with only 36k jobs lost allowing the markets to rally going into the weekend on rising investor confidence.
Safe haven currencies such as the US dollar and Japanese were sold in favour of riskier currencies like the Aussie and Kiwi dollars after the strong US employment number. Progress in Greece has also raised investor’s risk appetite as Euro meltdown appears less likely.
The Euro has bounced off its lows as the crisis in Greece appears to be abating. French President Sarkozy has come out in support, applauding the “courage” of the Greek austerity plan, saying the Eurozone was ready to help Greece. This contrasts with German Chancellor Merkel who shot down claims of a Greek rescue package while other German officials suggested Greece start flogging off its beautiful islands to pay back its debts.
The pound remains weak ahead of the general election as current polls suggest the Conservatives still don’t have a majority. The YouGov poll had the Conservatives on 38% against 33% for Labour, while the ICM poll has the Tories on 40% against Labour’s 31%. Uncertainty is bad news for markets, so any clarity regarding the likely winner on May 6th for support the pound.
Data is thin on the ground this morning with German January industrial production being the only major figure of note at 11:00am. Bank of England member Kate Barker and European Central Bank President Jean Claude Trichet are both speaking after that.
An elephant hired for a Hindu wedding in New Delhi caused more than £200,000 damage trying to reach an in-heat female. It crushed 20 limousines and later attempted to mate with a truck before smashing through a shopping mall in a 15-hour rampage.
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