- German Chancellor Merkel’s CDU party suffered heavy losses in weekend elections
- MPC member Posen sees UK inflation falling to 1.5% next year
- ECB Nowotny sees risk that Greece can’t repay debt
- Irish government negotiating with ECB to refinance Irish bank debts
- Regional stocks fall by over 0.5% on average
- Gold $1427/oz, Oil $105.15/bbl
EUR/USD opened lower in Asia after closing in NY at 1.4080 on Friday. The heavy losses suffered by Angela Merkel in German regional elections were the main reason. Heavy stops were triggered below 1.4050 but strong bids emerged starting at 1.4020 and they stalled bearish momentum. Ranges: EUR/USD 1.4019/69, EUR/CHF 1.2912/54
USD/JPY has ground its way higher throughout the day as the bulls have been heartened by reports that Kampo has been consistently buying during last week and also that the offers near 82.00 are much smaller than they were on the intervention day. Ranges: 81.33/78, EUR/JPY 114.19/94
The AUD has maintained the strength shown last week with option buyers now joining in on the M&A flows. Barrier options at 1.0300 are stalling for now but bullish momentum remains strong. Ranges: 1.0232/66
Cable also opened lower after the London riots and the Posen comments also added to bearish sentiment. It was unable to break below strong bids near 1.6000 but the much deeper European market is likely to test it again. Ranges: Cable 1.5998/1.6020, EUR/GBP .8758/85