EU Morning Report - The Greek problem just won’t go away!

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Written by Markos Solomou   
Monday, 22 March 2010 08:28 GMT

The Greek problem just won't go away!

  •  Fridays trading the USD trade stronger as risk aversion seemed to take centre stage due to concerns over the Euro zone's stance on how it plans to help Greece. Also in the wires we saw concerns by the market over the Fe's monetary policy stance and how soon it plans to normalize policy. No major economic calendar events were published on Friday however we did saw a historic Bill get passed by the US House on health care reform. This bill in short ensures that tens of millions of uninsured Americans will be entitled to medical coverage now. Equity markets closed -0.35% and 2 year Treasury yields rallied from 0.95% to 1.00% following speculation on the Fed's next move. USDJPY traded in a 90.32 - 90.70 tight range.
  •  In Europe the Greek Debt crisis refuses to go away and markets are increasingly realizing just how long term the problem maybe. The issue is over the proposed plan by the Euro zone which plans to syndicate a number of loans by member states to offer to Greece only if needed and also at a premium. This leaves Greece with the cheaper IMF option as it cannot go on borrowing at current rates as it defeats the purpose of the austerity cuts in the first place. Greece has a total of E23 billion of debt maturing on April 19 and May 23. From the financial calendar on Friday we saw a flat PPI report for the month compared to an expectation of 0.1%. EURUSD price action of Friday was between 1.3626 - 1.3502.
  •  In the UK the pound traded lower as certain BoE members see the risk of a double dip recession in the UK. This can only expand speculation on further Quantitative easing operations to be implemented by the MPC.    
  •  Today's financial calendar is light on economic reports and heavy on Central bank commentary via minutes or speeches. SNB quarterly bulletin, ECM Trichet's speaking, BoE King speaking, US Treasury Sec Geitner speaks and BoJ will be releasing its policy minutes as well. Volatility will be expected today as Central bank insights can have significant affects on Global markets.

 Currency to watch out for: EURUSD & USDJPY

  • § The EURUSD pivot point is at 1.3575 with a preference to enter into short positions at 1.3565
  • § The USDJPY pivot point is at 90.10 with a preference to enter long positions at 90.15

 Today's calendar and market movers:

  • § UK BoE Gov King speaks
  • § EU ECB President Trichet speaks
  • § SNB quarterly bulletin
  • § Japans BoJ Monetary policy minutes.

 Equity Markets:

  •  US equities closed negative Friday with the DJIA and the SP500 closing -0.35% and -0.51% respectively.  The European bourses were mixed on Friday with the FTSE up 0.12% the DAX and the CAC closing negative at -0.50% and -0.32% respectively. The NIKKEI and the HSI at the time of writing is 0.75% and -2.01% respectively.