The EUR/USD started in Asia at 1.4090, falling from 1.4135 in late NY with the news that the Portuguese PM had resigned after failing to push through the austerity measures, while the EU has postponed the detailed agreement on the increase in the ESFS until the end of June. The fall extended to as low as 1.4075, but ACB interest at the lower levels sparked a rebound to 1.4114 and the pairing then quietly traded 1.4098/1.4114 for the morning, with rumors circulating of large bids at 1.4060. USD/JPY and the JPY crosses again did not do to much in Asia. USD/JPY remained slightly flat, holding between 80.83-81.06, not a lot of different than the 80.70-81.06 seen yesterday. Sterling fell from grace overnight on disappointment over the release of the MPC meeting minutes, with the market expecting heightened vigilance and more hawkish comments given the closer vote and inflation rising to the highest level since Nov 2008. The pair opened in Asia at 1.6237 and has traded 1.6228/66, falling from day's highs as EUR/USD headed lower on a Dow Jones headline saying that Moody's will downgrade Spanish banks.
8:00 GMT time French Flesh Services PMI forecasted at 59.6 slightly less than previous data's of 59.7.
8:30 GMT time German Flesh Services PMI forecasted 58.5 slightly less than previous data's of 58.6.
9:30 GMT time UK is to release Retail Sales with the forecasted -0.5% less than last data's which were 1.9%
Meanwhile, the U.S. is to release a flurry of data, with reports on durable goods orders forecasted at 2.1% better than the last data's of -3.0% , a leading indicator of production as well as data on initial unemployment claims forecasted at 388k with the increase from the previous numbers , the nation's earliest employment data.
As for Equities in US, we see Dow positive by 67 point 12,086 by 0.56%, Nasdaq to 2,698 0.54%, S&P 500 gained up to 1,298 by 0.29%. In Europe we saw FTSE 100 Positive 5.796 by 33 points. In Asia, Nikkei was dawn to 9.435 by 0.15%, Hang Seng at 23.06 by -0.92% points and Shanghai trading negative at 3.085 by -0.06%
Sources: Various