US data as expected

Jobless Claims come in at 457K vs 455K. CPI 0.0 vs +0.1% Ex Food and Energy +0.1% (as expected).  Current Account -115.6 for 4Q vs -119.0B. 

All within a tolerance of expectations.

CPI and Initial Claims due out at 8:30 AM

Intial Claims expected to improve at 455K vs 462K last week.   One has to wonder if weather effects one day unwind and we find an improvement. 

CPI comes in at +0.1% and Ex Food and Energy come in at +0.1%.  The YoY comes in at 2.3% vs 2.6% last month.  The Ex Food and Energy comes in at 1.4% vs 1.6% last month.  There is little in the way of inflation pressures as pricing power is not there.

Bobbys Corner-Open Market-March.18.2010

Good Morning:

The Euro lost ground in overnight trading.  It seems that the  region is rethinking it’s obligation to bailout Greece, and may be moving towards having the indebted country rely on the IMF  for any aid.  The recent Euro rally could well be quelled for the time being-as the problems that exist between Greece and Germany seem to be greater then the marketplace anticipated.

The Greek Prime Minister set a one week deadline for the EU to come up with a rescue package for the country.
EU ministers have an upcoming summit March 25-26, and hopefully they will draft a bailout package for Greece.
ECB President Trichet, and French President Sarkozy have both ruled out any IMF involvement, stating that the EU can solve their own problems.

World equity markets were mixed-and US Futures are basicaly flat at this time.
Commodities are also lower accross the board.

Oil:$82.27                                       Gold:$1125.30

EURUSD falls on the Greece worries. Keeps below moving average resistance.

The EURUSD has remained under pressure on the back of the Greece funding situation. The cost is too high (+310 basis points over comparable German bond yields) and they do not want to go to the IMF but they are not getting anything concrete from the EU.  The EU Trade Balance was better versus a year ago as exports show good strength.  The lower EURO seems to be helping in this respect and the news caused the EURUSD to bounce higher toward upside resistance. 

From a technical perspective, the EURUSD has remained below the 100 bar MA on the 5 minute chart currently at the 1.3684 level.  A move above this level should solicit some additional profit taking today. with the 1.3706 being the next target (200 bar MA on the same chart).

Looking at the hourly chart the 1.3681 level is also a key level.  It represents the 200 hour MA…

March 18th 2010 NY Opening Forex Commentary is available for viewing

UK CBI Industrial Order Expectations

The GBP didn’t budge after a worse than expected CBI industrial order expectations number which came in at -37 versus -33.

Swiss ZEW Expectations

Swiss economic expectations came in at 53.8, slightly higher than the prior reading of 52.5.

Eurozone Trade Balance

Eurozone trade balance, which was due out at 6 am, was released earlier than expected and was negative for February coming in at -2.3B versus the forecast of 5.1B and prior reading of 4.3B.

UK Public Sector Borrowing and Money Supply

Borrowing in the UK was less than expected but much more than the prior month and M4 money supply was the same. The details are as follows:

• Public Sector Net Borrowing - Survey: 14.6B   Actual: 12.4B   Prior: 0.0B
• Prelim M4 Money Supply m/m - Survey: 0.8%   Actual: 0.2%   Prior: 0.2%

Eurozone Current Account

The eurozone current account was much worse than expected at -8.1B versus 2.9B and the previous showing of 2.3B but the market was unaffected by the release.

Swiss Industrial Production q/q

Quarterly Swiss industrial production came in at 6.4%; better than its survey of 5.1% and prior reading of 3.4%, but the market had a very limited reaction.

Swiss Trade Balance

Swiss Trade Surplus came in at 1.29B, less than the 2.37B expected and prior reading of 2.42B.

No major market reaction as Eur/Chf trades at 1.4460 andUsd/Chf at 1.0578.

Greece may seek IMF aid, Dow Jones reports

  Greek Prime Minister Papandreou may seek aid from the IMF over Easter weekend as a rift between Germany and Greece is gaining strength. The Prime Minister seems to be preparing for the worst as he fears EU members are likely side with Germany regarding aid to Greece.

Euro has fallen across the board on this news.

Eur/Usd has made a new low of 1.3669 and Eur/Jpy 123.19, and both still seemed offered at moment.