- Weidmann: ECB mustn’t overstep its’ mandate. Governments overestimate ECB possibilities – Bundesbank internal interview
- Bundesbank says internal interview conducted June 29 (over a month ago)
- Germany’s Vice Chancellor Roesler: Fiscal discipline and reforms the only way forward for the euro. ECB should concentrate on its’ core monetary remit
- Eurozone July final manufacturing PMI 44.0, fractionally lower than flash read of 44.1 and down from 45.1 in June
- Nationwide UK house price fall -0.7% m/m, -2.6% y/y in July, weaker than Reuter’s median forecasts of unchanged, -1.8% respectively. The y/y drop biggest since August 2009
- UK July manufacturing PMI 45.4, down sharply from 48.4 in June and well below Reuters’ median forecast of 48.5. Lowest read since May 2009
- China prepares vast stimulus as slump threatens Asia - AEP at The Telegraph
- Why another major China stimulus package is not coming – Zerohedge
- Showdown looms for ECB, Germans – WSJ
Euro has made some marginal gains (but not against the wunderkid aussie dollar)
EUR/USD up at 1.2305 from early 1.2290, having been as high as 1.2337. The pairing rallied early, helped in no small part by notable buying of the EUR/JPY cross by a US bank whose headquarters are in Charlotte. We eventually made it to the session high after buy stops tripped through 1.2330.
We then slipped gently lower before steadying in the 1.2315/25 region. That’s until comments from Weidmann (see above) hit the wires and we fell quickly below 1.2300 to 1.2290 before recovering in choppy trade.
One thing is for sure, the market is certainly very jittery, reflected by the increasingly choppy movement. Guess it’s not overly surprising given what’s coming down the pike in next few days; FOMC later today, Bank of England and ECB tomorrow and US non-farm payrolls Friday.
USD/JPY doing little, touch firmer at 78.10 from early 78.00.
GBP/USD down at 1.5630 from early 1.5660. Weaker than expected UK housing and manufacturing PMI data (see above) has hardly helped. EUR/GBP up at .7870 from early .7847.
AUD/USD up at 1.0530 from early 1.0485. Barrier option interest at 1.0550.