[B]OPENING COMMENT[/B]
[B]President Obama[/B] has warned about removing stimulus too soon but is also strongly opposed to a second stimulus package. [B]Sterling[/B] is the strongest currency on the day with the much better than expected[B] RICS [/B]data driving the relative outperformance after showing the first rise in prices in over 2 years. The[B] US Treasury[/B] is reportedly in the process of [B]discussing the sale of its $7.7B/34% stake in Citigroup[/B]. The [B]RBA Minutes came out and were less hawkish[/B] than many had been expecting, with the central bank only saying that economic conditions pointed to a future rate hike. There had been the expectation that the RBA would be more aggressive in their language to indicate a tightening just around the corner. This was also somewhat of a letdown for Aussie bulls after [B]Treasurer Swan[/B] was earlier with a more upbeat and hawkish tone. Second tier Aussie data was also weaker than expected and this resulted in the single currency underperforming relatively. Price action in [B]Usd/Chf[/B] is also notable, after the pair managed to break to fresh 2009 lows on Tuesday by 1.0320. Overall sentiment remains on edge in light of the latest escalation in the [B]China-US trade rif[/B][B]t[/B], with a [B]WSJ article[/B] saying that this is just the tip of the protectionist iceberg. Looking ahead, key economic releases in the European session come in the form of[B] Swiss industrial production[/B] (7.3% expected) at 7:15GMT, [B]UK CPI[/B] (0.3% expected) and [B]UK DCLG house prices[/B] (-9.5% expected) at 8:30GMT, and [B]German ZEW[/B] (60.0 expected) at 9:00GMT.
[B]Written by Joel Kruger, Technical Currency Strategist for DailyFX.com
If you wish to receive Joel’s reports in a more timely fashion, e-mail [/B][B][email protected][/B] [B]and you will be added to the [/B][B]“distribution” [/B][B]list.[/B][B][/B]
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