MORNING BRIEFING: Greece summoned to act by EU

[RTFX-Trading]

MORNING BRIEFING: Greece summoned to act by EU

What’s new :
United States: The U.S. should continue to benefit from the difficulties of the Eurozone
Great Britain: Political Uncertainty on the front of the stage
Britain: Return of the recession in the first quarter 2010?
Euro area: European envoy in Athens did not mince words
Euro area: Madame Merkel confident in the effectiveness of Greek’s measures
Greece: Special cabinet meeting Wednesday
IMF: Yuan very undervalued, USD overvalued
Australia: The RBA's rises in interest rates by 0.25%
France: Decline of the EUR against the USD good for economy
Switzerland: GDP in 2009 up to +0.6%

Today:


Rates in Asia and Indices:
EURUSD: 1.3675-1.3513.
USDCHF: 1.0830 - 1.0779.
GBPUSD: 1.5000-1.4902.
EURJPY: 121.05-120.64.
USDJPY: 89.37 - 89.08.
DowJones: 10'403 .79 +0.76%
Nasdaq: +0.18 ° 2'273 .57%
S & P 500: 1'104 .49 +1.58%
Nikkei: 10'221 .84 +0.49%
Shanghai: 3'072 .67 -0.49%
Gold: $ 1'116 .38
Crude Oil: $ 76.80
 
Comments:
The lack of precise measures to fight against the crisis gnawing the EUR, as well as the pressures on the GDP should continue to support the U.S. dollar, which reached its highest level against the EUR since May 2009.

The political uncertainty due to fears of a parliament with no real majority after the elections which must be held within the month of June continued to weigh on GBP. It has lost 7% since the beginning of the year against the USD. GDP figures for the fourth quarter of 2009, better than expected, fail to hide the bad start of the year for the British economy, which raises fears of a return into the red for GDP in the first quarter of 2010. To add also the emergence of growing fears about the size of government debt.

Mr Rehn, special European envoy, urged Greece to strengthen as quickly as possible its austerity measures to fight against the crisis, adding that countries in the euro area were ready to take decisive and coordinated actions to ensure stability for the EUR.

For his part German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was confident that Greece will reach its goals of reducing its budget deficit, which would be the best way to calm the market’s fears for the EUR.

In an analysis of the G20 countries, the International Monetary Fund considers the Chinese yuan significantly undervalued, and the USD slightly overvalued.

After the RBA (Royal Bank of Australia) rise by 25 basis points its interest rates, bringing it to 4.0%, AUD lost some ground this morning, with the classic reaction buy the rumors, sell the fact! But this increase, which should be followed by further rate increases this year, coupled with the continued strong demand for Australian minerals should support the AUD.

The French Minister of Industry Mr. Estrosi, expressed satisfaction with the decline of the EUR against the USD, this favoring the economy. The French carmakers are optimistic for auto sales in the first half of 2010.

Thanks to rising consumption, Switzerland seems to have regained some growth, GDP released this morning showing an increase of 0.6% for 2009. The CHF should nevertheless continue to remain within a narrow range against the EUR, the risk of intervention by the SNB always hovering on the market.

Good day

Pascal Bovay

RTFX Ltd
Trading desk
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