Portugal’s Dos Santos on the wires
Portugal’s Dos Santos had this to say today in Macau;
* international markets are very volatile
* European sovereign debt under stress
* Portugal’s growth is picking up
* Portugal doesn’t have a housing bubble
* Portugal doesn’t need new capital injection; country cannot default
* Portugal working to reduce deficit
* sees sufficient demand for Portuguese bonds
German Final CPI
German Final CPI m/m came in at 0.0%, as expected.
Eur/Usd has been trading either side of 1.2700 showing no market effect after release of benign data.
9-9 Economic Calendar

UK Halifax HPI
Halifax HPI m/m came in at 0.2%, stronger than the -0.3% expected.
Gbp got a boost from the positive housing number as Gbp/Usd is up 45 points to 1.5440 and Gbp/Jpy the same to 129.10. The Pound strengthened against Euro about 20 points to trade at .8332.
Noda ready to take “bold action on currencies”‘ including intervention
Japanese Finance Minister Noda was quoted as saying ”we will take bold action if necessary and naturally that can include intervention.” “We have to use every option available as a strong yen is likely to have a severe impact on companies.”
Usd/Jpy reached a new 15 year low at 83.32 earlier in the session. Currently the pair trades at 83.55.
BoJ Monthly Report
In their monthly report The Bank of Japan keeps economic assessment unchanged as yen continues to strengthen. They also had the following bullet points on economy;
* economy showing further signs of moderate recovery
* exports and output are increasing at slower pace
* pace of improvements in growth will temporarily slow
ECB’s Quaden on the wires
ECB’s governing council member Guy Quaden had this to say on banking crisis;
* bank situation not as bad as 2 years ago; not yet normalized
* banks can’t be dependent on ECB credit externally
* public deficits must be addressed; deficit cutting has short term costs
* no need for brutal austerity except for cases like Greece
* deflation, strong inflation unlikely
* monetary policies alone can’t give stability
9-8 Economic Calendar


