Very little to report from overnight activity as there was little to speak of. I can only imagine everyone was watching Madonna lip sync at the half time show. Of note however was the fact that risk opened Asia with a gap lower and has since then spent most of

The euphoria from Friday’s US payrolls number that propelled risk higher has faded today as Greece takes centre stage. The technocratic government led by Lucas Papademos is trying to convince the three main political parties that more austerity is needed. A statement late last night said that an agreement between

Euro zone retail sales declined unexpectedly in December, said the European Union’s statistics office Eurostat on Friday. Retail sales fell 0.4 per cent from November after declining by the same amount in October.

In the short-term EUR/USD is likely to slide down to 1.3250/80. A close below this support would encourage further bearish action, which may last up until 1.3000. On the other hand, should 1.3250/80 withstand, the pair will commence recovering and return back to 1.3435.

On Friday Pound/Dollar decreased with 110 pips. The Cable depreciated from 1.5861 to 1.5749 on Friday, in converse with the positive Interbank sentiment at almost +35%, closing the week at 1.5804. Today the British Pound is soft, but moving still at the lower end of Friday’s range for the time

On Friday, the payrolls triggered an interesting reaction on the currency market. The strong US labour market report supported the dollar and not risk sensitive currencies like the euro. This weekend, uncertainty on the Greek debt talks is pushing EUR/USD closer toward the first significant support level.

After the European Commissioners have recorded only sluggish progress in implementing the assumed reforms and austerity measures as part of the European rescue fund, the European heads increased the pressure on the Greece government. Recently, the international lenders demanded increasingly for fixed terms to avoid a bankruptcy of the nation.

Friday’s US employment data was extremely encouraging, with the headline non-farm payrolls coming in much stronger than expected at 243k (compared to consensus estimates looking for 140k), and the unemployment rate unexpectedly dropping to 8.3% from 8.5% prior. The release led to a short-term uptick in risk sentiment characterized by