- Conference Board employments trends index drops to 96.6 from 97.5, declines 18.6% from year ago
- Italian stability program sees GDP falling -2% in 2009, deficit rising to GDP at 3.7%
- France unveils plan to bolster car makers
- Baltic dry freight index rises better than 10% in London
- Eurogroup’s Juncker: Eurozone finance ministers see need to tackle toxic debt assets; need greater communication; not enough credit around
- Obama press conference this evening at 01:00 GMT, 8:PM EST.
Reflation was again the play of the day as commodities firmed for much of the session before slipping on profit-taking late. Stocks were firmer for the majority of the session as were US Treasury yields.
GBP/USD rallied mo meet out target at 1.4980 (reaching 1.4977) before easing on profit-taking in quiet afternoon trade in New York. Similar story for EUR/USD. That pair broke last week’s 1.3069 highs, triggered stops up to 1.3092 before dipping. EUR/JPY topped again at 120.00 and spent the rest of the New York session consolidating in the upper end of the 117.00/120.00 intraday range. New York markets were very well-behaved today relative to the whippy markets seen in recent weeks.