Daily Musings and Music of a Euromarket Professional

Uncomfortable as it may be, being aware of sitting on a time bomb shouldn't keep us from being able to laugh about it - and to listen to some music!

Daily musings of a euromarket professional


Friday 13 April 2012

13 April 2012 – "Still I’m Sad" (Rainbow, 1976)

13 April 2012 – "Still I’m Sad" (Rainbow, 1976)
http://youtu.be/Xsq7qY_pM4E

US risk had a fairly buoyant close with equities steadily driven upwards to end +1.4%. Very smooth climb with no real acceleration. It’s notable that bonds remained rather steady, as were European Core bonds into the close. Asia was less sanguine, as the Chinese Q1 GDP, which somehow had been fabled at 9% during the US session, came out at “solely” +8.1% YoY, after prior +8.9%. Retail sales and Industrial production in line with expectation. Given still healthy monetary supply, expectations the POBC will intervene have been pushed back, leaving the market just mulling the slower development.
European data light with German CPI at +2.3% YoY, unchanged from prior, as expected. Spain at 1.8% (all EU harmonized). Italian Indu Prod still sliding with Feb printing lower than expected at -6.8% (-5.1% fcst), although Jan data was revised slightly upwards. Sad chart showing a steady decline from Apr 2010 on, only interrupted with spikes once in a while.

Market players getting nervous again when chewing on Spanish bank ECB borrowing figures (EUR 316bn in Mar from 170), a reminder that the 800-pound gorilla has some potentially very hungry offspring, which will bring back the subject of Spanish real estate to light (data next week).

Weak open given the China story. Weak periphery (10 YRS Spain above 5.90%, Italy nearing 5.50% again) and stronger Bunds. The new German 10 YRS 1.75% Jul 2022, which may have struggled to find immediate fans on Wednesday at 1.77%, was already through that level at 1.74% by mid-morning. Watch out for the squeeze, as only EUR 3.9bn were allocated (with the BuBa long EUR 1.1bn, which it uses for market interventions). Spread to Jan 2022 still at 9bp, which seems steep. Will see that falling down to 5bp sooner rather than later.

No salvation from uninspiring US figures on CPI and below forecast on Michigan Confidence at 75.7 against 76.2 expected & prior.

Market mood is back to black…
Spain 10s falling back out of bed to flirt with the 6%, from which ECB SMP mullings on Wednesday just took them away…Anyhow, they’ll be auctioned on Tuesday. Who really wants to fight over them before that?
Hadn’t had North-South / AAA/non-AAA divide for a while, but there has been some notable backtracking on the potential SMP use for Spain. Yes, the instrument is still there. No, playing with bazookas, lighters, fire or other incendiary devices is not yet allowed. At this stage… Spain CDS traded 500 today.
Never really understood, why the CBs were not selling protection instead of buying bonds…

New issues supply once more restricted to a single (once more French) corporate trade with retailer PPR selling EUR 500m 7 YRS at MS +140. Very small week on new issues anyway.

Heavy close. Heavy week. Closing on the week’s lows, too. Doesn’t bode well.

10 YRS Yields: Germany 1,73% (-6); Luxembourg 2,19% (-5); Finland 2,21% (-3); Swaps 2,21% (-3); Netherlands 2,23% (-2); EFSF 2,87% (-2); Austria 2,91% (+3); France 2,94% (+6); Belgium 3,38% (+3); Italy 5,51% (+13); Spain 5,96% (+17).

10 YRS Spreads: Luxembourg 46bp (+1); Finland 48bp (+3); Swaps 49bp (+2); Netherlands 50bp (+4); EFSF 114bp (+5); Austria 118bp (+10); France 122bp (+12); Belgium 165bp (+9); Italy 379bp (+19); Spain 423bp (+24).
[Spreads calculated on new DBR 1.75% Jul 2022]

EUR swap curve 2-5 YRS 46,9bp (+0,2); 5-10 YRS 72,5bp (+0,1) 10-30 YRS 28,7bp (-0,1).
German 2 YRS BKOs close at 0.13% (from 0.14%) and 5 YRS OBLs at 0.67% (from 0.70%)

Main back to 143 (from 134, 6.7% weaker); Financials at 247 (from 236, 4.6% weaker); Sovereigns 280 (from 274).
Credit had outperformed equities yesterday and thus gave back more today…

Stoxx Futures at 2227 / -2,4% (from 2282) with the S&P at 1375 (-0,5% from 1382, at European close).Euro Stoxx has turned negative on a YTD basis. CAC just so slightly up.
VIX index tame at 18.9, but the US holding better than Europe.

EUR 1.308 from 1.317
ECB deposits pole vaulting EUR 53bn and back to EUR 705bn from.
Oil 103,2/121,4 from 104,0/120,8 (-0,8%/+0,5%) . Gold at 1665 after 1673 (-0,5%). Copper at 361 from 371 (-2,7%) . CRB closes 304,2 from 305,6 (-0,4%).
Baltic Dry at 972 from 960. Will need to see, if freight balks at 1000 level, but that would only be a low psy barrier. It had been a former low early 2011 and the average since 2009 is a 2185.
All levels European COB 17:30 CET

On the week (compared to Thu 05 Apr close):
10 YRS Yields: Germany 1,73% (+0); Luxembourg 2,19% (-5); Finland 2,21% (-5); Swaps 2,21% (-5); Netherlands 2,23% (-7); EFSF 2,87% (+1); Austria 2,91% (+1); France 2,94% (-4); Belgium 3,38% (-4); Italy 5,51% (+9); Spain 5,96% (+22).
Old DBR reference Jan 2022 at 1.64% (-9), closing at all-time low.

10 YRS Spreads: Luxembourg 46bp (-4); Finland 48bp (-4); Swaps 49bp (-1); Netherlands 50bp (-6); EFSF 114bp (+2); Austria 118bp (+1); France 122bp (-3); Belgium 165bp (-4); Italy 379bp (+10); Spain 423bp (+23).
Spreads look a little “lighter” given the roll effect of the new German benchmark, but the pain shows on Italy and Spain nevertheless.

EUR swap curve 2-5 YRS 46,9bp (-2,4); 5-10 YRS 72,5bp (+1,2) 10-30 YRS 28,7bp (+2,7). Flight into 5s ongoing.
2 YRS BKO traded new historical lows, at 0.12% (from 0.13%). Same for 5 YRS OBL down to 0.66% (from 0.70%).

Austria, France and overly expensive EFSF now “stable” market pivots. Belgium tagging along
Italy and Spain a real worry
Markets so concentrated on Spain and Italy that Portuguese bonds had a good run with just being stable with 2 YRS 14.25% 5 YRS 14.25% 10 YRS 12.25% (from 14.25% 14% 12%)
Greece 2023 20.75% (from 21.5%)  & 2042 16.75% (from 17.3%)

Main 143 (from 132, 8.3% weaker); Financials at 247 (from 234, 5.5% weaker); Sovereigns 279 (from 272)

European equities coming from a 2012 high of 2550 (Stoxx futures) on 19 Mar, had another rough week, with Stoxx Futures closing at 2227 / -4,2% from 2325 and with the S&P at 1375 / -1,8% from 1400, at European COB last week.
Stoxx has turned negative -1.1% YTD, while the S&P is still  up 9.4%
VIX up from its dead mattress life in the 14 handle. Traded on average 19 during this week. Had a 21 high on Tuesday.

EUR 1.308 from 1.306 – eventually unchanged.
Oil 103,2/121,4 from 102,9/122,9 (+0,3%/-1,2%) . Gold at 1665 after 1632 (+2,0%). Copper at 361 from 382 (-5,5%) . CRB closes 304,2 from 306,5 (-0,7%). Commodities by and large stable with China-tracking Copper on the weakest side. Gold ok on flight to quality.
WTI and Brent up 4.5% and 13.0% YTD. Gold 6.5%. Copper 5.0%. CRB about flat on the year.
While the Baltic Dry had wobbled a little the previous week, it recovered steadily this week, closing at 972 from 928 (+4.7%).

Next week:
Again a VERY, VERY, VERY thin week on hard data in Europe. Sentiment test of the German locomotive via ZEW and IFO. Spanish auction. Periphery weakness. Oh, so weak…
Germany: ZEW on Tue and IFO on Fri
France: Running up to first round of presidential elections.
Other EU: House prices in Spain
US: Retail Sales on Mon, Housing data + Indu Prod on Tue, Claims on Thu, Philly FED & Leading Indicators.
Asia: Nothing really on the plate in China, likewise for Japan. Tue Japan Indu Prod and Capacity Util.

Click link on title or below for today’s musical support:
http://youtu.be/Xsq7qY_pM4E
(Yes, I’m aware that the song is originally from The Yardbirds, but we already had them yesterday…)

Thursday 12 April 2012

12 April 2012 – "Over Under Sideways Down" (The Yardbirds, 1966)

12 April 2012 – "Over Under Sideways Down" (The Yardbirds, 1966)
http://youtu.be/a2VsAhNUvNY

Quite some stability in overnight action with the US closing sideways, where they started and stable Asian session. China stood out with a 2% rise in its afternoon session.
FED Beige Book and ECB monthly report didn’t reveal anything new. European figures showed French CPI higher than expected at 2.6% YoY (after prior 2.5% and expected 2.3%), European Feb Industrial production fell YoY 1.8%, as expected, with Jan revised to -1.7% (after -1.2%), which brings us back to Dec 2009 levels. Greek unemployment rising to 21.8%.
European equities initially opening up 0.5% before reverting to unchanged and sinking ahead of the Italian auction results, especially as the later came out delayed (fro technical reasons). Results neither bad enough to trade lower nor encouraging enough for a strong rebound either. Slightly negative bias into the lunch break.

Environment by and large stable by noon. Italy tightening back 10bp, taking Spain along for the ride, in an otherwise unchanged spread universe.
US jobless claims at 380k far over 355k consensus and prior week revised higher, too. Ex energy & food PPI at +2.9%.
Europe following US lead higher on unascertained rumours of better Chinese Q1/GDP (in the middle of the Asian night???), QE3 after dovish Yellen comments, S&P back over 50dMA. Whatever…
On second guessing central bankers, a very interesting piece by PIMCO’s El-Erian on “Unusual Central Bank Policy Activism” (link). There’s just so much that can be done…

As already in yesterday’s bills sale, today’s BTP sale came on the expensive side with EUR 2.9bn on-the-run 3 YRS at 3.89% (up from 2.76% mid Mar and 3.40% mid Feb) and additional EUR 0.4bn 3s at 3.92%, 0.7bn 2020s at 5.04% and 0.9bn 2023s at 5.57%. Italy had targeted up to EUR 5bn in total, although the B/C ratios were on the light side. 2 weeks ago 10 YRS were sold at 5.24%.
As for Spain, the LTRO-shine is fading…
Have had Rajoy on screens non-stop for the last couple of days. Maybe too often, as in need to defend his pitch. Might need to calm on statements like “Spain won’t be rescued. It’s not possible to rescue Spain”. Then again, the strategy to put everything on the table, unlike Italy, which seems to have gone into stealth mode, has probably pros and cons.
Spain’s and its (difficult to control) regions’ situation is an interesting echo to the overall Euro-zone and constituents’ situation.

No real new issues supply outside another stealth block trade, today a EUR 300m increase of an outstanding Vivendi 9 YRS deal at MS +190.

Hmmm… Not easy to get those Bund yields off the floor. All that “rebound” remains tepid and it’s not like Risk On is roaring yet.

10 YRS Yields: Germany 1,79% (+1); Swaps 2,24% (unch); Luxembourg 2,23% (+1); Finland 2,24% (unch); Netherlands 2,25% (unch); Austria 2,88% (-4); EFSF 2,88% (+2); France 2,88% (-6); Belgium 3,35% (-7); Italy 5,38% (-14); Spain 5,79% (-6).

10 YRS Spreads: Swaps 47bp (unch); Luxembourg 44bp (+1); Finland 45bp (unch); Netherlands 46bp (-1); Austria 109bp (-4); EFSF 109bp (+1); France 109bp (-7); Belgium 156bp (-8); Italy 359bp (-15); Spain 400bp (-7).
[Spreads calculated on new DBR 1.75% Jul 2022]

EUR swap curve 2-5 YRS 46,7bp (unch); 5-10 YRS 72,4bp (unch) 10-30 YRS 28,8bp (unch). Totally unchanged.
German 2 YRS BKOs close at 0.14% (from 0.13%) and 5 YRS OBLs at 0.70% (from 0.69%). Up 1bp…

Main 134 (from 142 y’day, 132 Thu); Financials at 236 (from 246 y’day, 234 Thu); Sovereigns 274 (from 274 y’day, 272 Thu).
Credit bouncing stronger than equities

Stoxx Futures 2282 / +0.5% (from 2270) with the S&P at 1382 (+0.8%, from 1371 at European close).
VIX index sent packing to 18.4 from 19.3, (21 high traded Tuesday).

EUR 1.317 from 1.308.
ECB deposits down to EUR 653bn from EUR 788bn. Start of new reserve maintenance period. Had a similar declines of around EUR 130bn in Mar (EUR 816bn to 686bn), Feb (EUR 524bn to 391bn), Jan (EUR 528 to 395bn).
Oil 104.0 / 120.8 from 101.9 / 119.6 (+2.0%/+1.0%). Gold up 0.8% to 1673 from 1659. Copper rather strong at 371 from 365 (+1.6%)
CRB up as well 1.3% to 305.6 from 301.6. All classes in sync.
Baltic Dry up again 1.7% to 960 from 944, highest since recovery began from the through early Feb. Another 4% and the 1000-handle will symbolically be broken again.
All levels European COB 17:30 CET

Friday: CPI day… Even if both the FED and the ECB feel that things are under control on that front…
German CPI fcst at 2.3% YoY, unchanged from prior. Italian CPI fcst at 3.8% YoY, unchanged from prior. .Spanish CPI fcst at 1.8% YoY, unchanged from prior. Italian Ind Prod fcst -5.1% YoY after -5%.
US CPI (ex, YoY) fcst 2.2% after prior 2.2%. Michigan confidence expected unchanged at 76.2.

Click link on title or below for today’s musical support:
http://youtu.be/a2VsAhNUvNY

Wednesday 11 April 2012

11 April 2012 – "It’s Only Wednesday" (Crash Kings, 2009)

11 April 2012 – "It’s Only Wednesday" (Crash Kings, 2009)
http://youtu.be/swIBPJj1gkI

Soft US close with S&P going technically through the 50d MAV at 1373 and Nasdaq closing on it (2993). Had a bit of a rebound on better than expected Q1 figures from Alcoa, who traditionally opens the release ball. Asian session of course weaker, but all in all rather cool-headed. Japanese machine orders still strong.
German wholesale prices showing a bit of a decline (2.2% after 2.6% YoY). Spanish industrial output seasonally adjusted down 5.1%, in decline for the 12th time in a row. Capital goods demand deeply affected.
Still after a wobbly start with equities up 0.5%, then down 1% and then up again the same, we had – right on cue, as described yesterday ( Risk off, seriously off – until some official statement of central bank market support might bend things around ) – official smoothing comments from ECB’s Coeuré, mulling about the possibility SMP buying in Spanish bonds (NB: There hasn’t been any ECB buying at all since November last year…) helped bringing down the heat on Spain’s 10 YR, which duly came down from 5.95% to 5.80% by late morning. Funny market when second guessing the opposite’s side second guessing has become the norm. Big game of chicken to the square root…
Spreads tightening on initial Bund weakness with some pre-hedging the newest 10 YRS BUND auction. The new reference being 6m longer had initial quotes wider by 9bp to the outstanding, which seems quite defensive with the swap curve showing only 5 bp. Anyhow, visually it relaxes the spread front.

Who wanted to own Bunds at record lows? Obviously not everyone (today) as the BuBa only received bids for EUR 4.1bn and allocated EUR 3.9bn for an intended EUR 5bn sale. But before speaking of a “failed” auction, remember that the BuBa always can and mostly does retain part of the sales for later market interventions and that Germany has a looser primary dealership system than most other European countries. We had that before and probably will see that again. Seen this, done that.  Beware of the short squeeze risk, given the size of the issue.
Initial reaction in futures of mild disappointment, but no more sell-off than to be expected in a slight risk on atmosphere with equities recovering about 1%, more in the periphery, and Italian 10s 20 and Spanish 10s 15bp tighter by late morning.
Italy had its bills sales covered with EUR 3bn 3m at 1.25% and EUR 8bn 12m at 2.84%. The change in attitude compared to last month shows, given prior results of 0.49% with a higher B/C. 12m had been issued at 1.40% last month with about similar B/C. Quite a steep increase of the bill.

No real new issues supply outside a stealth block trade of EUR 400m 10 YRS at MS +120 for French Legrand.

Afternoon session in a lull. US figures without impact. European equities drifting sideways upwards to around +1-1.5% waiting for some US lead. First quotes in line with futures and not leading further. Same wait and see on improved levels in credit. Improvement running out of steam on lack of US enthusiasm.
Still thinking that “Mood de la Semaine’” remains on the defensive side: markets still trade by negative sentiment and on broken technicals  in absence of hard data. Holiday season. Thin markets. Interesting to note the pre-close volume surge on European equity futures yesterday. Unlike in Bunds, you can see the triggers and wave of sales. Stop-loss? Stop-win? New shorts?
Risk off, seriously off – until some official statement of central bank market support might bend things around. In the meantime, risk can retrace some more.
Potential explosive addition to the mix: Greece’s elections, now officially pencilled for 06 May. Unless running a campaign that avoids ugly themes (…), there’s bound to be some verbal challenges on whatever has been achieved so far.

Despite a lukewarm auction, with German (old) 10s at 1.69%, 2 bp above the former record close before yesterday’s, it’s not like witnessed a huge return of appetite for risk. Will use new 10 YRS Bund as reference as from tomorrow, which closed 1.78%
10 YRS Yields: Germany 1,69% (+5); Swaps 2,24% (+3); Luxembourg 2,22% (+4); Finland 2,24% (+3); Netherlands 2,26% (+0); Austria 2,91% (-2); EFSF 2,86% (+3); France 2,94% (-5); Belgium 3,42% (-5); Italy 5,52% (-14); Spain 5,85% (-11).
Italy and Spain bouncing back, but just so and not beyond the initial morning reaction. Italy still above 5.50% and Spain above 5.75%.

10 YRS Spreads: Swaps 51bp (-3); Luxembourg 53bp (-1); Finland 54bp (-2); Netherlands 56bp (-5); Austria 122bp (-7); EFSF 117bp (-2); France 125bp (-10); Belgium 173bp (-10); Italy 383bp (-19); Spain 416bp (-16).
 [Spreads calculated on DBR Jan 2022]

EUR swap curve 2-5 YRS 46,7bp (+1,7); 5-10 YRS 72,4bp (-0,9) 10-30 YRS 28,8bp (-0,8).
German 2 YRS BKOs close at 0.13% (from 0.09%) and 5 YRS OBLs at 0.69% (from 0.62%). So off historic all-time lows…

Main 142 (from 145 y’day, 132 Thu); Financials at 246 (from 255 y’day, 234 Thu); Sovereigns 245 (from 279 y’day, 272 Thu).
So we remain far from last week’s levels.

Stoxx Futures 2270 / +0.7% (from 2254) with the S&P at 1371 (-0.1%, from 1373 at European close).
VIX index still above at 19.3, although off the 21 high traded yesterday.

EUR 1.31+ from 1.308.
ECB deposits EUR 788bn from EUR 785bn.
Oil 101.9 / 119.6 from 101.8 / 121.3 (+0.1%/-1.4%). Gold bouncing back 1.5% to 1659 from 1635. Copper flattish at 365 from 366.
CRB 301.6 from 302.6 (-0.3%).
Baltic Dry up 1.7% to 944, highest since recovery began from the through early Feb.

All levels European COB 17:30 CET

Thursday:
Even less data than today. French CPI.
US PPI fcst 3.1% / 2.8 ex YoY (after 3.3% and 3.0%). Need to check out those Jobless claims 355k fcst after 357k after last Friday’s disaster.

Click link on title or below for today’s musical support:
http://youtu.be/swIBPJj1gkI

Tuesday 10 April 2012

10 April 2012 – "Ruby Tuesday" (The Rolling Stones, 1967)

10 April 2012 – "Ruby Tuesday" (The Rolling Stones, 1967)
http://youtu.be/5-qf0hHLUKw

Bloody red closings out there. Markets catching up on the dismal employment figures in the US (only US futures were open for a limited time on Fri). US confirming after time to reflect over the weekend the initial 1% plus drop in equities and 15 bp drop in UST to 2.05%. Asia consequently weak, too. Had a serious 2% minus opening in Europe, but a 1% rebound off lows helped stabilize late Asian quotes.
Eco figures in China have shown rising, above forecast inflation (3.6% from prior 3.2%) and Mar trade surplus figures marked higher than expected Exports, but most worryingly Imports that were just half the forecast. All this leaves the PBOC on a tight rope exercise on managing whether the landing will be soft or hard.
French Production figures below consensus with prior data revised lower, as for the Netherlands. French Biz sentiment stagnating accordingly and at the lowest since Q4/2009. Spanish home sales unsurprisingly declining further. EZ Investor confidence falling, too.
Keeping balancing European average into the positives, German Feb trade over consensus with Jan data revised upwards.

Had 10 YRS Bunds trade down to about 1.66%, which by and large was about record low, last traded in Sep 2011. German 2 YRS trading about 0.11% and 5 YRS 0.65%, also historic lows. All this already in the morning session.
At the same time about all other European sovereigns widened, be it in the periphery on general risk off and following the distrust built up over the last week, as well as in the Core with Austrian and Dutch auctions weighting on spreads.

Government supply across the board: Greece selling EUR 1.3bn 6m bills at 4.55%. The Netherlands issued EUR 3bn 5 YRS at 1.28% (down from 1.35% in Feb), while Austria issued EUR 605m 10s at 2.90% (after 2.89% in Mar) and EUR 715m 5s at 1.73%. France sold EUR 3.8bn 3m bills at 0.08%, EUR 2.1bn 6m at 0.12% and EUR 2bn 12m at 0.25%. Levels about unchanged from 2 weeks ago.
Across the currency spectrum, we noted Switzerland selling 6m bills at minus 0.25%.

No new issues supply.

In absence of early afternoon US figures, Europe (initially quietly) sank into depression and traded lower. US wholesale inventories building up interpreted as piling up, thus negative. Mood du jour… Trashy close!
Probably “Mood de la Semaine”… As was to be expected last week already, markets trade by sentiment (negative) and technicals (negative) in absence of hard data. Holiday season. Thin markets.
Risk off, seriously off – until some official statement of central bank market support might bend things around. In the meantime, risk can retrace some more.

10 YRS Yields: Germany 1,64% (-9); Swaps 2,21% (-5); Luxembourg 2,18% (-6); Finland 2,21% (-5); Netherlands 2,25% (-5); Austria 2,94% (+4); EFSF 2,83% (-3); France 2,99% (+1); Belgium 3,47% (+5); Italy 5,66% (+24); Spain 5,96% (+22).

10 YRS Spreads: Swaps 54bp (+4); Luxembourg 53bp (+3); Finland 56bp (+4); Netherlands 61bp (+5); Austria 129bp (+12); EFSF 118bp (+6); France 135bp (+10); Belgium 182bp (+13); Italy 402bp (+33); Spain 432bp (+32).

Germany’s curve closing on historic lows. Getting back into some seriously hot waters: Spanish 10s are too near to 6% to not have markets players stop out and others test whether there is resistance there. Same goes for Italy, which is further behind in its funding programme than is Spain (25% versus 40%). Had Italian 2-3 YRS trade softer than that part of the curve in Spain (+35 bp versus +30 bp). Spanish and Italian curve too close in shape and levels in order not see the 10 YRS BTP snap back to par with Spain at some time.
Austria and Netherlands weakish on supply. Should clear out over the week. France stable.

EUR swap curve 2-5 YRS 45,6bp (-2,1); 5-10 YRS 73,7bp (+0,5) 10-30 YRS 29,7bp (+0,8).
German 2 YRS BKOs close at 0.09% and 5 YRS OBLs at 0.62%
German 2 YRS now below Japan. If it wasn’t for the flight to quality mood, I’d say this is worrisome for the DAX. Markets starting to price in a decade of deflation???

Main 145 (from 132, 9.8% weaker); Financials at 255 (from 234, 9% weaker); Sovereigns 279 (from 272).
Financials just as badly treated as the rest, for once.
Stoxx Futures 2254 / -3.0% (from 2325) with US equities holding better with the S&P at 1373 (-1.9%, from 1400, Thu 17:30 CET).
EStoxx YTD performance now down to just shy of 1%.
VIX index, which had closed 16.7 last Thu, surged to 19.40 yesterday and opened today above 19 to retest these highs.

EUR 1.308 from 1.306. Had traded up to low 31 handle on US “weakness”, but eventually held back by Euro-jitters
ECB deposits back to EUR 785bn.
Oil 101.8 / 121.3 from 102.9 / 122.9 (-1.1%/-1.3%). Gold up to 1644 for while on safe haven then closing 1635 from 1632 in end of day sell-off. Copper down $ 10 to 372 in Europe then 366 close from 382 (-4.2%), very China-linked. Is breaking 50% 12m HiLo. CRB 302.6 from 306.5 (-1.3%) on general soft sentiment.
Baltic Dry unchanged at 928.
All levels European COB 17:30 CET

Wednesday:
Very, very thin on major data.
DE PPI. Spanish Industrial Prod (was -4.2% adjusted in Feb). US mortgage applications, Beige book
Germany will have a shot at trying to wring out a 10 YRS auction on historic lows tomorrow. Italy selling bills.
Shouldn’t bring any major surprise, unless BC was to tend to 1.

Click link on title or below for today’s musical support:
http://youtu.be/5-qf0hHLUKw