EUR
Yesterday Greece’s new leaders struck a note of defiance yesterday as they
began to scrap measures that had been planned as conditions of the country’s
bailout packages. The new government said it would reverse privatisation plans
and re-hire some public sector workers. This sparked panic in Greek
markets. The Athens stock market plunged by over 9%. The banking sector has
seen a quarter of its value wiped out. Also Greek 10 year bonds rose to 10.34%.

EUR
Yesterday Greece’s new leaders struck a note of defiance yesterday as they
began to scrap measures that had been planned as conditions of the country’s
bailout packages. The new government said it would reverse privatisation plans
and re-hire some public sector workers. This sparked panic in Greek
markets. The Athens stock market plunged by over 9%. The banking sector has
seen a quarter of its value wiped out. Also Greek 10 year bonds rose to 10.34%.

Further compounding the panic  credit rating agency Standard and
Poor’s has threatened to cut Greece’s credit rating. They revised the outlook
on Greece’s B rating to credit watch negative, which is the first step before a
formal downgrade. 

Slight goods news in the Eurozone is that Consumer confidence in Germany is
rising. The report showed an increase from 9 to 9.3, indicating consumers in
Germany are shrugging off issues in Greece.

GBP
Yesterday Mark Carney praised the ECB for the boldness of plans to buy hundreds
of billions of Euro’s of government bonds to fight the combination of weak
growth and falling prices. He also states that the Eurozone needs more public
spending in its poorer areas. 

USD
The Federal Open Market Committee struck a positive tone yesterday. Janet
Yellen said yesterday that US economy was expanding at a solid pace with strong
job gains in a signal that the central should look to increase interest rates
later this year. The Fed stated it would be patient in deciding when to raise
interest rates, acknowledging a decline in inflation  due to record low
oil prices.

Key
Announcements:
EUR – 10:00 : Eurozone Consumer Confidence (Jan) expected to rise
from -12 to -8.5
EUR – 13:00 : German Inflation (Jan) expected to fall to -0.1% from
0.2%
USD – 13:30 : Initial jobless claims expected to fall to 300K from 307K

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