- FOMC extends Operation Twist until end of 2012; keeps door open for more QE if needed
- Samaras sworn in as Greek PM; banker Rapanos to be finance minister
- Infighting in Japanese ruling party undermines JPY on disagreement over consumption tax
- BOE’s Broadbent: Case for more stimulus has increased
- CEO confidence drops: Business Roundtable
- EU, Merkel say no plans to discuss bailout fund bond-buying
- Van Rompuy may introduce idea of issuing joint short-term debt
- Spanish 10-yr yields tumble 27.5 bp to 6.77%
- ECB’s Coeure expects rate cut to be discussed at July ECB meeting; thinks bailout fund, not ECB should buy bonds.
- US 10-tear note yield rises 3 bp to 1.65%
- S&P 500 falls 0.2% in volatile trade
- Gold falls $12 to $1606WTI falls $2.23 to $81.80
Lots of thrills and spills in the market today but we end up not too far from where we began with the exception of USD/JPY. That pair was underpinned by concerns the DPJ may be coming apart at the seams over the consumption tax issue and bu last nights huge trade deficit from Japan. Throw in another BOJ meeting this week and you have a recipe for some heavy short-covering.
The USD/JPY short-covering spilled over into EUR/JPY helping push that pair to its highest levels in a month. We close at 101.00 and 79.50, substantially higher on the day.
EUR/USD tried the topside after the Van Rompuy “roadmap” or “blieprint” or whatever the hell it is and after comments on EFSF bond buying by Merkel were grotesquely twisted out of context by Bloomberg. It failed to overcome the 1.2750 area and slipped back to the 1.2650s before as stocks fell back late. Blink. We now trade at 1.2700 amid an orgy of self-flagellation in the spot market.
Unless you have a strong view and the willingness to sit through instant 50-pip losses, steer clear of this market until it settles down a bit. Right now, it’s just stoopid.