Quote:

‘A husband is what is left of a lover, after the nerve has been extracted.’ Helen Rowland (1875-1950)


The News:

US Fannie Mae reports a Q4 loss of $25.2B forcing it to draw more money from the Treasury.


The Numbers:

Greenwich Mean Time, with expectations and previous figures in brackets.

(23:30) JP February Tokyo CPI +0.5% Y/Y, National January CPI 0%, versus +0.5% and +0.2%).

(23:30) JP January Jobless 4.1%, Job-to-Applicant 0.67, versus revised 4.3% and 0.73 December.

(23:30) JP January Household Spending –6.1% Y/Y versus –4.6% December.

(23:50) JP January Industrial production record –10.0% M/M, -30.8% Y/Y, versus –9.8% and –20.8% December).

00:01 GB February GfK Consumer Confidence –35 versus –37 January.

05:00 JP January Housing Starts 0.957M annualised, Construction Orders –38.3%, vs 1.001M and –27.3% December.

08:00 EZ16 several governing council members of the ECB speak at 10th anniversary of the Euro, Madrid.

10:00 EZ16 January CPI (-0.9% to –0.8% M/M, +1.1% to +1.2% Y/Y, versus –0.1% and +1.6% December).

10:00 EZ16 January Unemployment (8.0% to 8.2% versus 8.0% December).

10:30 CH February KOF Indicator (-1.14 to -0.82 versus –0.87 January).

13:30 US Q4 GDP (-6.0% to –3.8% Q/Q annualised, Core PCE +0.1% to +0.6%, versus –3.8% and +0.6%).

13:30 CA Q4 Current Account (-C$9.5B to –C$4.1B versus +C$5.6B Q3).

13:30 CA January Industrial product Prices (-1.5% to +0.6% M/M, Raw Materials –10.0% to +1.0%, versus Dec).

14:45 US February Chicago Purchasing Managers (28.8 to 36.0 versus 33.3 January).

15:00 US February final University of Michigan Confidence Survey (52.0 to 61.2 versus 56.2).


The Psychology:

Watch weekly and monthly closes on equity indices which should add bearish pressure.


The Risk:

FX market tricky with pressure on Asian currencies growing.


Today’s most interesting chart: Nymex Gasoline

Potential ‘rounded bottom’ in all the energy group.