The EUR/USD opened in Asia around 1.4195, touched an early high at 1.4202 and then came under steady pressure during the morning on profit taking ahead of the EU meeting on Thursday and Friday, which is due to deliver the future EU economic framework or "grand bargain". The new measures appear to be far from a done deal, with the Portuguese PM set to resign if their budget cut fails to be voted in later today, which looks likely, while the Irish remain a long way from a compromise on the corporation tax issue, Finland continues to refuse to increase loan guarantees amid comments from Merkel saying that she wants further discussions on the ESM deal. USD/JPY and the JPY crosses again did not do a whole lot in Asia. USD/JPY remained essentially flat, holding between 80.84-81.08, not a whole lot different than the 80.85-81.29 seen yesterday. Cable opened in Asia at 1.6365 and has traded 1.6342/82 so far and last at 1.6378 on a day when risk was gently offered. The pair touched 1.6375 in early Asia before heading to session lows as EUR/USD and associated crosses were sold as profit taking emerged, with the EU meeting beginning Thursday and some doubts creeping in that it will be able to deliver the magic solution previously signaled.
9:30 GMT time U.K. is to publish industry data on mortgage approvals, an important indicator of housing market demand.
10:00 GMT time The euro zone is to publish official data on industrial new orders, a leading indicator of production forecasted at 1.4% less than previous data's.
14:00 GMT time USA is to publish official data's on New Home Sales forecasted at 291k. Later on in the day 16:00 GMT time Fed Chairman Bernanke Speaks.
As for Equities in US, we see Dow bearish by -18 point 12,019 by 0.15%, Nasdaq to 2,684 -0.31%, S&P 500 gained up to 1,294 by -0.36%. In Europe we saw FTSE 100 Negative 5.763 by -23 points. In Asia, Nikkei was dawn at 9.449 by 1.65%, Hang Seng at 22,831 by -27 points and Shanghai trading positive at 3.087 by 1.01%.
Sources: Various