• US weekly jobless claims unexpectedly rise to 402,000; dims employment outlook ahead of NFP Friday
  • Polish PM: No time for delay on euro crisis; backs EU treaty change
  • Fed’s Bullard: Right to be concerned about potential European meltdown
  • US think tank says Fed to cut discount rate 25 bp to 0.50% on December 13
  • Geithner to meet Monti in Milan next Wednesday
  • ISM rises to 52.7 in November from 50.8 in October
  • Germany proposes individual nations set up funds to pay down debt above 60% of GDP
  • IMF: Global growth outlook likely to be revised lower in January
  • Merkel pushing treaty changes but still resisting ECB involvement
  • Bloomberg: Switzerland considering use of negative interest rates to weaken franc
  • Fed’s Bullard: December not a natural meeting for action; downplaying talk of December QE, discount rate cut
  • Sarkozy: Demise of euro would make French debt unmanageable
  • EU’s Van Rompuy: Mutualization of public debts should be considered
  • Bank of Spain: Crisis may worsen in next few months
  • S&P 500 falls 0.2%; Dax falls 0.9%, CAC falls 0.8%
  • US 10 year note yield rises 2 bp to 2.09%; Italian yields fall 33 bp to 6.75%; Spain down 48 bp to 5.79%

A pretty disappointing day for those bullish of EUR/USD. Strong US ISM data and a plunge in European sovereign bond yields were not enough to allow the single currency to establish a beachhead above the 1.3500 level.

We ran up to 1.3522 early in the day on signs that the ECB is willing to get more aggressive in dealing with the sovereign debt crisis, so long as the politicians get their act together. We popped up to 1.3513 after the very strong ISM manufacturing, but that rally too was short-lived. Dips were limited to the 1.3443 level with most of the trade taking place between 1.3460 and 90 in a relatively dull afternoon. Traders await Merkel’s speech to the German parliament tomorrow and the US employment report.

EUR/CHF firmed at midday in NY as Bloomberg reported the Swiss government is considering negative interest rates to weaken the franc. We popped from 1.2260 to 1.2395 on the report. It ends the day at 1.2325.