MORNING BRIEFING : The heads of European states tune their violins!

[RTFX-Trading]

MORNING BRIEFING :  The heads of European states tune their violins!

What’s new :
Euro area: Van Rompuy announces agreement on Greece
Euro area: The lack of concrete support weakens EUR
United States: Sharp fall in US jobless claims
Australia: AUD winners of the night!
Switzerland: high CPI (Consumer Prices Index) figures published yesterday
Paris: Minister of Finance satisfied with the French GDP

Today:


Rates in Asia and Indices:
EURUSD: 1.3695 - 1.3653.
USDCHF: 1.0730 - 1.0700.
EURUSD: 1.5706 - 1.5663.
EURJPY: 122.96-122.41.
USDJPY: 89.84 - 89.58.
DowJones: 10'144 .19 +1.05%
NASDAQ: +1.38% 2'177 .87
S & P 500: 1'078 .47 +0.97%
Nikkei: 10'092 .19 +1.29%
Shanghai: 3'014 .71 +0.98%
Gold: $ 1'091 .25
Crude Oil: $ 73.95

Comments:
The announcement yesterday afternoon by Mr. Van Rompuy of an agreement on the situation in Greece has caused additional sales of EUR against a basket of currencies. Despite the political support provided to Greece by the European heads of states meeting in Brussels yesterday, the market is waiting for more precise measures to regain confidence in the EUR. The confirmation of Mr. Trichet that the ECB will work with the European Commission on the Greek case did not provide practical solutions to the debt problems of European member states of the Euro Zone, markets always fear the "contagion" of this "Influenza budget" to Portugal and Spain, with the risk of a domino effect throughout the Euro Zone.

Wall Street and Asian markets have reacted better than the Forex to these news, Wall Street and Asia closing up.

Better-than-expected jobless claims in the United States, added to the problems of Greek strengthen the USD against EUR, JPY and CHF.

The anticipation of possible future rate increases by the Australian Central Bank, added to the satisfying behavior of currencies linked to commodities, have increased the attraction of the AUD, which achieves the best performance of the night of our basket of currencies .
Published in Switzerland yesterday, the consumer prices index in January showed a more expensive annual rate of 1.0% against 0.3% in December and 0.1% in January 2009, surprising economists. But it was the lack of clear measures in the aid to Greece which has supported this morning the CHF against the EUR, despite the willingness of the SNB (Swiss National Bank) to maintain the CHF in a range of 1.4650-1,4700.

The increase of 0.6% in the fourth quarter 2009 French GDP (Gross Domestic Product) has been judged very satisfactory by Ms. Lagarde, Minister of Finance.

Good day

Pascal Bovay

RTFX Ltd
Trading desk
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