Downgrade Means Europe

Euro hits fresh 2012 lows ahead of informal summit; More reports of an ECB contingency plan in the works Economic Data (GR) Greece Mar Current Account: -€2.1B v €1.1B prior (NL) Netherlands Mar Consumer Spending Y/Y: % v -1.3% prior (SE) Sweden Apr Unemployment Rate: % v 7.8%e (EU) Euro Zone Apr Current Account: +€7.5B v -€5.6B prior; Current Account Seasonally Adj: +€7.5B v -€1.2B prior (IT) Italy May Consumer Confidence: 86.5 v 89.5e (lowest reading on record after series began in 1996)) (ZA) South Africa Apr CPI (all items) M/M: 0.4% v 0.5%e; Y/Y: % v 6.2%e (TW) Taiwan Apr Industrial Production Y/Y: -2.3% v -1.7%e; Commercial Sales Y/Y: -2.4% v -0.9% prior (UK) Apr Retail Sales Ex Auto Fuel M/M: -1.0% v -0.7%e; Y/Y: -0.3% v +0.7%e (UK) Apr Retail Sales with Auto Fuel M/M: -0.8% ...

Germany: The Savior Of Europe? Germany: The Savior Of Europe? It's official, the German economy is single handed propping up the Eurozone after its economy grew five times more than forecast in the first quarter. Growth expanded by 0.5% on the quarter, pushing the annual growth rate to 1.2%, which is fairly healthy considering how dire the growth outlook is elsewhere in the currency bloc. We know that some large German companies like BMW had their best ever quarter in the first three months of the year, thus there were signs that Germany could do better than expected. But what is surprising is that even though Italy contracted more than expected at 0.8% in the first quarter, the Eurozone managed to avoid a recession and registered flat growth overall between January and March. Germany ...

The Week Ahead ■The Bank of England's next move ■Is this the beginning of the end for the Eurozone? ■Fed officials reluctant to signal more easing ■Broader risk environment outweighs Japanese rhetoric The Bank of England's next move The BOE kept rates on hold when it concluded its May meeting last week; it also allowed the asset purchase program to come to an end. Since the UK slipped back into recession in Q1 2012 and the growth figures at the start of the second quarter have continued to look weak, the decision to hold interest rates was mostly down to the sticky outlook for inflation. The attention now turns to Wednesday's Inflation Report. The focus will be on the Bank's growth and inflation forecasts. The growth forecasts are likely to be revised lower. Even ...

The euro hovered near a 3-1/2-month low on Friday as Greek political parties made efforts to form a coalition government, and looked fragile as risk sentiment struggled on weak Chinese data and JPMorgan's shock trading losses. The common currency was steady at $1.2936 after earlier hitting a trough of $1.2905, its lowest level since January 23. Investors were heavily focused on Greece, where inconclusive election results on Sunday threw the country into political disarray and raised the risk of it exiting the euro zone. The euro climbed to a session high of $1.2956 as Greek conservative leader Antonis Samaras said there were still hopes a government could be formed, but came further pressure when the leader of the moderate Democratic Left said the country was heading for a repeat poll. ...

A worse than expected Advance GDP figure sent the dollar tumbling to multi-week lows against several of its main currency rivals on Friday. The EUR/USD closed out the week at 1.3249, up close to 100 pips for the day. Against the JPY, the greenback was down 115 pips to finish the day at 80.27. Turning to this week, the US Non-Farm Payrolls figure should be closely watched when it is released on Friday. In addition, Tuesday's US ISM Manufacturing PMI and Wednesday's ADP Non-Farm Employment Change may lead to significant activity in the marketplace. The dollar may extend its losses should any of the indicators come in below expectations. Economic News USD - Dollar Volatility Expected Ahead of Non-Farm Report A disappointing US GDP figure resulted in heavy losses for the dollar to close out ...

(Reuters) - Spain's sickly economy faces a "crisis of huge proportions", a minister said on Friday, as unemployment hit its highest level in two decades and Standard and Poor's weighed in with a two-notch downgrade of the government's debt. Spain's unemployment rate shot up to 24 percent in the first quarter, the highest level since the early 1990s and one of the worst jobless figures in the world. Retail sales slumped for the twenty-first consecutive month. "The figures are terrible for everyone and terrible for the government ... Spain is in a crisis of huge proportions," Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said in a radio interview. Standard and Poor's cited risks of an increase in bad loans at Spanish banks and called on Europe to take action to encourage growth. Bank ...

Forex Morning Briefing : Spain downgraded two notches by S&P What’s new: Asia: BoJ extends asset purchase programme, sending the JPY lower initially, but risk aversion from Spain took the currency higher. Europe: Spain’s debt downgraded to BBB+ by S&P. EUR on the offer. US: Sluggish jobless claims increased pressure for QE, but was offset by decent housing figures. Rates in Asia and Indices: EUR/USD 1.316 1.3223 -0.34 % USD/CHF 0.9086 0.913 -0.33 % GBP/USD 1.6154 1.6191 -0.12 % USD/JPY 80.49 81.45 0.17 % EUR/CHF 1.20132 1.20183 0.01 % EUR/JPY 106.28 107.48 0.53 % Dow Jones 13075.96 ...

The Week Ahead Highlights UK Q1 GDP to put the brakes on more QE French political risk comes to a head Italy and Spain turn attention to fiscal targets BOJ to back up rhetoric with action FOMC still in wait-and-see mode Market Moves UK Q1 GDP to put the brakes on more QE The major data release in the UK this week will be the preliminary Q1 GDP reading. There is considerable uncertainty around this figure due to some strong data in the services sector, especially retail sales, balanced by some disappointments in the manufacturing and construction sectors. Retail sales for March rose 1.5%, more than the 0.4% expected. This was mostly due to the effects of good weather boosting demand for clothes, footwear and gardening equipment. This helped to reverse some of the ...

U.S. Review Look Past the Monthly Volatility and See the Trend This week of economic releases painted a somewhat mixed picture, but the underlying trend still reflects an economy that is growing at a modest pace. The milder-than-usual winter likely brought some activity forward and below-consensus readings are due in part to payback. Housing starts, existing home sales and industrial production all posted disappointing readings in March that are likely not indicative of the underlying trend. Headline retail sales, however, came in more than double the consensus estimate in March, ending the first quarter on a positive note. Early Spring Brings Payback Period The full week of economic releases painted a somewhat mixed picture, but the underlying trend still reflects an economy ...