[B]Fundamental Headlines[/B]
[I]• Eastern Europe Faces Threat of More Defaults – Wall Street Journal
• Euro-Zone Loan Growth Slows – Wall Street Journal
• Credit card debt crisis hangs over Europe – Financial Times
• Rio Tinto’s Poker Face Tested by China’s Tactics in Iron-Ore Negotiations – Bloomberg
• Bernanke Aimed to Avert `Second Great Depression’ With Fed Crisis Response – Bloomberg[/I]
[B]EURUSD [/B]– German GFK consumer confidence rose for a third month to 3.5 from 2.9 on July as signs that the economy is stabilizing. Improving corporate earnings are helping send equity markets higher which is also contributing to the increase in optimism. Meanwhile, German import prices rose for the first time in almost a year by 0.4% which should help put an end to deflation concerns for the region. If upside risks to prices increases then we could see inflation expectations rise as the ECB strictly follows its price stability mandate. Discuss the topic and your trade ideas in the EUR/USD Forum.
[B]
GBPUSD[/B] – Hometrack LLC reported that home prices in July were flat despite an increase in lending. However, the report showed that sellers are seeing increasing bargaining power as they obtained 91.5% if their asking price during the month. Additionally, the time to sell a home has fallen to nine weeks which was the lowest timeframe in a year. Chancellor Alistair Darling admonished banks for nit lending as they had promised when the government provided aide which was in response to the BoE’s quarterly lending report which showed that credit conditions remain difficult for small businesses. Discuss the topic and your trade ideas in the GBP/USD Forum.