Good Morning ,
- EUR-cross buying remained the theme overnight. EURAUD for example is up
150 points over the last 24 hours. There are not many data releases today,
focus will be on the budget presentation in the UK today.
- Stocks: Nikkei-0.55 %, Hang Seng -0.36 %, Shanghai Composite -0.10 %,
Dow Jones -0.52 %, S+P500 -0.30 %
- Portugal's2011-12 fiscal adjustment "is remarkable by any standards,"
commission says in report based on EU-ECB-IMF review last month of aid
program.
* Adjustmentprogram is "on track," 2012 goal for deficit equal to 4.5% of
GDP is valid, commission says, in document obtained by Bloomberg
* EU-ECB-IMF review sees 3.25% GDP decline in 2012 vs prior est. 3%;
commission on Feb. 23 forecast 3.3% decline
* Troika mission finds no sign of "reform fatigue" in Portugal
* Financing conditions tight but "risks of a credit crunch arecontained,"
helped by ECB policies
- BOE ChiefEconomist Spencer Dale said U.K. inflation may not slow as fast
this year as the central bank has forecast as tensions in the Middle East
push up oil prices. The Monetary Policy Committee's central projection is that
inflation is "somewhat more likely to be below" its 2 percent targetthan
above it for much of the next three years. Dale said that while there are
"good reasons" to expect price growth to slow, his outlook is"somewhat more
balanced."
- The U.S. FederalReserve may need to start moving away from its near-zero
interest rate policy as soon as this year, if unemployment continues to drop
and inflation threatens to rise, a top Fed official said on Tuesday. "Iwould
see an argument for initiating that exit in 2012 or 2013," Narayana
Kocherlakota, president of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank, told
reporters after a speech at Washington University in St. Louis. The U.S.
unemployment rate, now at 8.3 percent, is likely to fall below 8 percent this
year and into the "low sevens" by late next year, he said.
- US exempts Japanand 10 European countries from Iran sanctions
- Japanese PrimeMinister Yoshihiko Noda said the government is working closely
with the Bank of Japan to take "bold" policy measures to overcomedeflation
and boost the economy.
- Australia DataRecap Period Survey Actual Prior Revised
* Westpac Leading Index Jan - 0.6 % 0.5 % 0.7 %
* DEWR Internet Skilled Vac Feb - -0.2 % -0.6 % -0.1 %
- New Zealand DataRecap Period Survey Actual Prior Revised
* Current Account Balance Q4 -2.825b -2.763b -4.599b -4.751b
* Credit Card Spending yoy Feb - 4.0 % 3.1 %
- Xia Bin, adeparting adviser to China's central bank, urged more autonomy for
the monetary authority as the country prepares to free up interest rates and
increase the yuan's role as an international currency. The People's Bank of
China "should be given more power in the areas of some short-term and
specific monetary policy adjustment and operations," Xia, 60, said in an
interview in Hong Kong yesterday, a week after his two-year term ended. There
is "large room for improvement in how decisions are made," he toldBloomberg
Television.
- 1200 US MBAMortgage Applications Mar
- 1500 US Existing Home Sales Feb
- 1430 Feb Bernanke, Treas. Sec.Geithner testify on Europe's Debt Crisis
- 1030 Bank of England Minutes
- 1330 Chancellor of the ExchequerOsborne presents the British govt. budget
- 1330 Canada Leading Indicators Feb
- 0900 Switzerland Money Supply M3 Feb
- 0900 SNB Monthly Bulletin
- 2245 New Zealand GDP Q4
(CET)
Have a nice day!