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Forex News and Events: Over the past few days, the media has been relaying comments suggesting leaders are backing the stay of Greece in the EMU. For starters the G8 stressed the importance for Greece to remain in the monetary union regardless of the discord over how to best tackle the crisis. During an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, former Greek PM insisted that an exit would yield “catastrophic” consequences for the country itself and “far reaching” implications for the EU. During yesterday’s European session however, EU officials stated they have agreed over a teleconference call with Eurogroup Work Group (EWG) that each nation in the EMU must prepare an individual contingency plan in case of an exit. The EUR sank against the USD to its lowest level since July 2010 at 1.2544, down 5. ...

Forex News and Events: Fitch downgraded Japan by two notches yesterday afternoon from AA to A+ with outlook negative. The agency justified the credit rating cuts by saying that the Japanese government isn’t reactive enough in tackling its “high and rising public debt ratios”. The move came in a few hours after the OECD urged Japan to prioritize the implementation of a fiscal consolidation plan, as debt-to-GDP ratio exceeds 200 percent, and budget deficits are forecast at 10 percent of GDP for the current year. PM Yoshihiko Noda has staked his political career on a law to increase sales tax to 10% with the goal of offsetting rising social security costs mainly due to the fast ageing of the population. But the opposition that controls the upper house is refusing to negotiate and is ...

Forex News and Events: It has taken two-and-a-half years, and nearly USD 300bn of IMF/EU funds for markets to finally weigh in a more probable than not exit of the debt-laden country. Greece’s EMU exit is imminent for the second time in the last six months. Surprisingly though, the trigger for the recent gloomy expectations for Greece was not exclusively of an economic nature but also politics. During May 6 elections, the Greeks expressed their unwillingness to abide by the agreed-upon austerity measures. It wouldn’t have been a very dangerous position had Greece been solvent, but regardless of EU officials’ reassurance of continued help for Greece throughout the process, the country would run out of funds for the next installments due end of June and early July. In addition to markets ...

Forex News and Events: Friday’s trading session was mostly uneventful with all the focus shifted to Facebook’s IPO. Many markets that had been freefalling these last two weeks caught a breather, with gold, silver, and the EUR gaining 1.12%, 2.57% and 0.63% respectively against the USD. The reversal has been attributed to a weak Philly Fed reading on economic activity in a sign that the world’s reserve currency is riskier than panicked markets are pricing. The weak number raised speculation over a new round of interventions from the part of the Fed in order to boost its economy. WTI however, was not able to profit from this reversal as it dropped to a six-month low before closing at 91.33. A 22-year high in inventory levels for the US could explain the decoupling of oil from the rest of ...

Fundamental Analysis EUR "Fears of a Greek exit from the euro zone and the negative consequences from that are prevailing" - Ben Kwong, KGI Asia European stocks edged lower after Fitch downgraded Greece’s credit rating to ‘CCC’, implying that the country is vulnerable and highly dependent on favourable economic conditions to fulfill its financial obligations. USD "If there were scope to do another twist of some type it would be prudent to consider it, especially in the scenario where things are worse and the Fed feels like it needs to move" - Nathan Sheets, Citigroup Inc. Fed policymakers might potentially launch another round of Operation Twist rather than a direct asset purchases in case of increased risks or further weakening of the US economy. GBP "We must work together to give ...

Equities and risky FX bounce after G8 commitment to Greece and China hints of easing Economic Data (JP) JAPAN MAR ALL INDUSTRY ACTIVITY INDEX M/M: -0.3% V -0.1%E (3rd consecutive decline) (NZ) NEW ZEALAND APR NET MIGRATION: -850 V 230 PRIOR (NZ) NEW ZEALAND APR CREDIT CARD SPENDING M/M: 0.2% V 0.4% PRIOR; Y/Y: 3.7% V 5.3% PRIOR (TH) THAILAND Q1 GDP Q/Q: 11.0% V 10.0%E; Y/Y: +0.3% V -0.5%E (UK) UK MAY RIGHTMOVE HOUSE PRICE M/M: 0.0% V 2.9% PRIOR (4-month low); Y/Y: 2.0% V 3.4% PRIOR Markets Snapshot (as of 04:30GMT) Nikkei225 +0.7% S&P/ASX +0.3% Kospi +0.9% Shanghai Composite +0.2% Hang Seng -0.1% Jun S&P Futures +0.5% at 1,297 June gold +0.4% at $1,599/oz June Crude +0.5% at $91.90 Overview/Top Headlines Asian equity markets, commodities, and risk-on FX opened the new week ...

Forex News and Events: In a race for downgrades, rating agencies took action targeting the two most burdened countries in the EMU. Moody’s confirmed today a rumor about the downgrade of 16 Spanish banks after having downgraded four Spanish regions, which added more pressure to the the Spanish economy. The increase in risk was reflected by 4-year Spanish Bonos yields, higher at 5.106% against a previous 4.319%. Fitch took over the Greek front by downgrading the country to CCC, adding that all EU countries would be on “Rating Watch Negative” if no pro-bailout government were formed following the elections on June 17. What’s more, while Greek banks are struggling for liquidity from EUR 700mn withdrawals since the elections and Greek central bank governor Provopoulos expecting EUR 100mn more, ...

Dukascopy Fundamental Analysis EUR Investors battered European stocks, dumped the bonds of Spain and Italy, and bid the euro down against the dollar Monday after the collapse of weekend coalition talks in Greece edged that country closer to an exit from the euro zone. USD Retail sales in the U.S. rose in April at the slowest pace of the year, showing unseasonably mild weather and pre-Easter shopping may have pulled consumers to stores the prior month. GBP Governor Mervyn King looks set to leave the door open to more support for the struggling economy when he presents the Bank of England's new economic outlook on Wednesday, which is likely to show a tricky mix of lower growth and higher inflation ahead. CHF Swiss stocks lost ground on Monday on concern Greece will exit the Eurozone. ...

The euro held above a four-month low on Tuesday after German economic growth beat expectations, although gains could prove fleeting as the political stalemate in Greece stokes fears that Athens may renege on bailout pledges and exit the currency bloc. European powerhouse Germany saw its economy expand in the first quarter at a robust clip of 0.5 percent, shaking off any fears of a recession. But a survey of German analyst and investor sentiment fell sharply in May, while GDP in France flatlined and Italy contracted sharply. Overall, much of the euro zone was still struggling with a slowdown, putting pressure on the European Central Bank to loosen monetary policy to support the economy. That is likely to see bears take a stronger grip of the euro. Also, concerns about slowing Chinese and ...