• The USD is trading higher with the EUR pressured by Greek debt troubles as the Greek/German 10 year bond spread widens to a record level, the ECB leaves interest rate policy unchanged as expected, GBP outperforms supported by report of better than expected UK industrial production and manufacturing output and rising UK house price data, GBP gains limited by the latest UK election polls which show the Conservative party's lead ahead of the May 6th election has narrowed increasing the risk of a hung parliament, the BOE leaves interest rate policy and asset purchase plan unchanged as expected, commodity currencies trade lower tracking weaker commodity prices and declining equity markets, AUD downside was limited by report of improving Australian employment growth, JPY trades higher in reaction to report that China plans to announce a change in its Yuan policy and by rising risk aversion as equity markets drop
• Focus turns to today's release of US initial jobless claims and the ECB press conference
• PBOC official calls for managed float for the Yuan, New York Times reports that China is close to shift in its currency policy
• Japan's February core machinery orders fall by 5.4%, February current account surplus narrows to ¥1.47trln,JPY higher
• Australia's March unemployment rate at 5.3%, employment growth at 19.6k,AUD lower
• BOE elects to hold monetary policy and asset purchases unchanged, UK February manufacturing output rose by 1.3% and industrial output rose by 1%, Halifax house price index rose by 1.1%,GBP lower
• EU February retail sales fall by 0.6%, Greek/ German 10 year bond yields widened to a record level, EUR lower
• Swiss March jobless rate falls to 4.2% from 4.4%,CHF lower
• Former Fed Chairman Volcker says the US should consider raising taxes and adopt a vat tax to help bring the deficit under control
• Fed Chairman Bernanke urges the US to commit to fiscal responsibility and he warned that failure to commit to fiscal responsibility will in the long run lead to financial instability and weaker growth, he warned that unemployment and foreclosures present challenges to the recovery
• Fed's Hoenig says forces for sustained recovery are moving into place, he expects 3% GDP growth in 2010, labor market weak but stabilizing, inflation likely to remain low for the next two years, extended period language no longer warranted
• Business Roundtable says 29% of CEO's plan to add to payrolls in the next six months, 21% say their payrolls will shrink and 50% expect no change, this is the first rime since Q1 2008 that more CEO's have expected to add jobs than cut
• Consumer credit fell by 11.5bln in February, a 0.7bln decline was expected
• US equity markets set to open lower, European equities 1.5% lower, Nikkei closed 124 points lower

Upcoming Events

• US- Thursday, initial jobless claims for week ending 04/03 will be released expected at 435k compared to 439k last week
• CAN-Thursday, no major economic data is due for release Canada today

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