Good morning! The Eurozone clouds are showing signs of receding, though it may prove short-lived so watch this space. The seventeen country single currency got a boost after a CNBC report claimed that European officials are planning a special purpose vehicle to buy toxic assets from the region’s banks to prevent another Lehman disaster. This could be smart thinking, something that should have been discussed before. Nonetheless, better late than never! This will decouple the banks from Greek debts. Even if Greece defaults – which looks more of a possibility than just speculation, at least there will not be any diffused effects and the damage will be local.
There were also rumours of the European Central Bank (ECB) playing Santa again and increasing the firefighting capacity of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) to €2 trillion from the present €440 billion. The ECB may also underwrite 50% of Greek all assets held by financial institutions. Athens should get ready to start celebrating a long Christmas this year, because frankly speaking, it couldn’t have asked for more.
Of course not everybody is amused. Jens Weidmann, head of the Bundesbank of Germany, opposed the ECB’s proposal to increase lending capacity. “It’s a recipe that doesn’t work in Europe,” he observed adding ECB’s proposal “completely blurs the lines between fiscal and monetary policy.” This will would “erode public confidence,” he said.
GBP/EURO – 1.1498
GBP/US$ – 1.5568
GBP/CHF – 1.4041
GBP/CAN$ – 1.5965
GBP/AUS$ – 1.5765
GBP/ZAR – 12.3641
GBP/JPY – 118.86
GBP/HKD – 12.1334
GBP/NZD – 1.9782
GBP/SEK – 10.5838
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EURO: The single currency started strong yesterday on better than expected German business climate numbers. However, talks of a 50 bps rate cut by ECB in October hurt sentiments and selling action was witnessed on every high. The GBP/Euro pair hovered around 1.1500 yesterday. The pair opens at 1.1509 today morning.
USD: The demand for safe haven currency eased yesterday and the Sterling made advances yesterday. Positive news from the ECB to prevent another meltdown pushed the Cable against the Greenback higher to 1.5590 from an opening of 1.5448. The GBP/USD pair opens at 1.5540 today morning.
Elsewhere, the Swedish Krona gained 0.9% against the USD while the Canadian dollar slipped 0.8% against the Greenback.
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