- Finland, Netherlands to block ESM bond buying in secondary markets – Finnish govt
- Dutch FinMin spokesman: Netherlands will decide on ESM bond purchases on a case-by-case basis
- ECB’s Asmussen: New Greek govt should not lose time looking to avoid or loosen bailout programme, should focus on reforms instead
- ECB’s Nowotny: Still need detail on what ECB does no bank supervision
- German Justice Minister sees court validating ESM, fiscal compact - MNI
- French national auditor: 2012-13 will be ‘difficult’
- BOJ Dep Gov: Sharp yen rises could hurt corporate profits, economy. Market’s undertone remains jittery as EU summit did not lead to fundamental solution to debt woes
- Swiss PMI 48.1 in June, better than Reuters’ median forecast of 45.0
- Euro zone final manufacturing PMI 45.1, slight improvement from flash 44.8
- Italy May unemployment falls to 10.1% from 10.2% in April. But youth unemployment up at 36.2%, the highest level since 1992
- UK manufacturing PMI 48.6 in June, up from 45.9 in May and better than Reuters’ median poll of 46.5
- Euro zone May unemployment 11.1%, up from 11.0% in April and in line with Reuters’ median forecast
- The four paths forward for the euro area - Zerohedge, featuring thoughts from Goldman Sachs
- Europe’s bad debts ‘will bite in 2013′ – Telegraph
Bit of activity this morning, not too bad for a Monday.
EUR/USD effectively unchanged at 1.2625. But inbetween we’ve been as low as 1.2610 and as high as 1.2668.
The dip to 1.2610 came first as European traders got settled in. UK clearer, with strong Far Eastern ties, was said to have been a notable buyer around the lows. As European stocks started to rally and as Spanish and Italian government bond yields came lower, so the euro improved. It was a grind rather than a sprint which eventually took us to the dizzy heights of 1.2668.
We sat around 1.2655/60 when comment from the Finnish government (see above) hit the Reuters’ newswire. EUR/USD was quickly marked down to the 1.2620/30 area and has so far failed to make up the lost ground, while stocks gave back a chunk of their morning gains.
USD/JPY slightly easier at 79.55 from early 79.75. Talk of Kampo buy interest lined up down at 79.00/30, sell stops gathering below there.