Quote:
Q: ‘Have English class barriers broken down?.’
A: ‘Of course they have, otherwise I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you’.
Dame Barbara Cartland (1901-2000)
The News:
UK government to announce another massive bank bail out this morning. Denmark injects €18B.
The Numbers:
Greenwich Mean Time, with expectations and previous figures in brackets.
00:01 GB January Rightmove House Prices –1.9% M/M, -7.3% Y/Y, versus –2.3% and –6.3% December.
05:30 JP December Nationwide Department Store Sales –9.4% Y/Y, Tokyo –10.4%, vs –6.4% and –7.2% November.
08:15 CH November Retail Sales (versus +2.9% Y/Y October).
09:45 EU25 European Commission releases economic growth forecasts.
10:00 EZ15 November Construction Output (versus +0.1% M/M and –4.0% Y/Y October).
11:50 FR ECB’s Trichet speaks at a lunch debate, Paris.
13:30 CA November International Securities Transactions (C$1B to C$2.5B versus C$2.85B October).
16:00 EZ15 Finance Ministers’ start a two-day meeting, Brussels.
23:50 JP November Tertiary Industry Index (Mizuho Securities –0.8% M/M versus +0.4% October).
The Psychology:
Monday 19th US Martin Luther King holiday. Obama’s inauguration Tuesday.
The Risk:
Commercial banks unveil more eye-watering losses.
Today’s most interesting chart: NOK/JPY
‘Hammer’ reversal last week at the low of a ‘wedge’.
