Data:
01:30 Australia Unemployment Rate s.a. (Jul) 5.1% 4.9% 4.9%
01:30 Australia Employment Change s.a. (Jul) -0.1K 10.3K 18.2K
01:30 Australia Consumer Inflation Expectation (Jul) 2.7% 3.4%
European banking stocks come under renewed selling pressure. Intesa Sanpaolo, Unicredit and Mediobanca shares are suspended from trading due to excessive volatility. Traders also note story doing the rounds that BNP Paribas faces another E713mln write-downs related to its Greek debt exposure.
The yen pared gains and the Swiss franc weakened against the euro as officials indicated they may act to stem currency appreciation.
The Australian dollar fell versus its New Zealand counterpart after a report showed the jobless rate unexpectedly rose.
The euro held yesterday’s losses against the yen as investors demanded about 88 basis points, or 0.88 percentage point, of extra yield to buy 10-year French debt rather than German bunds, even though both carry AAA grades from the major rating companies. That spread is almost triple the 2010 average of 33 basis points.
Swiss National Bank Deputy President Thomas Jordan was reported today to have said in an interview with Tages-Anzeiger that a temporary tie between the franc and the euro to curb the Swiss currency’s gains would be legal under the central bank’s mandate.
US data starts at 1230GMT with both Jobless Claims and also the International Trade Balance. Initial jobless claims are expected to rise just slightly to 405,000 in the August 6 week after falling in four of the previous five weeks. The international trade gap is forecast to narrow to $48.0 billion in June after widening sharply in May on higher
oil prices and a decline in exports. US data continues at 2030GMT with M2 Money Supply.