Quote:
‘The obsessive pursuit of status, wealth and power has done much to drag ambition’s reputation into the mud. And nowhere has this been truer than in the banking industry, where ambition has curdled into greed so damagingly of late.’ Sir Paul Smith (1946-)
The News:
President Obama cancels Asia/Pacific trip to try and push through his healthcare bill.
The Numbers:
Greenwich Mean Time, with expectations and previous figures in brackets.
00:50 JP December Nationwide Land Prices –4.6% Y/Y versus –3.5% 2008.
04:30 JP January All-Industry Activity Index +3.8% M/M versus revised –0.2% December.
05:30 JP February Tokyo Department Store Sales –6.5% Y/Y, Nationwide –5.4% Y/Y, vs –7.4% and –5.7% January.
07:00 DE February Producer Prices 0% M/M, -2.9% Y/Y, versus +0.8% and –3.4% January.
07:30 EU27 ECB’s Trichet, IMF’s Strauss-Kahn and FSC’s Barnier speak at a conference, Brussels.
10:35 EU27 Bank of England’s Tucker speaks on cross border crisis management, Brussels.
11:00 CA February CPI (+0.1% to +0.5% M/M, +1.3% to +1.6% Y/Y, versus +0.3% and +1.9% January).
11:00 CA February Core CPI (+0.1% to +0.3% M/M, +1.5% to +1.8% Y/Y, versus +0.1% to +2.0% January).
12:30 CA January Retail Sales (+0.3% to +1.2% M/M, Ex-Autos +0.3% to +1.0%, vs +0.4% and +0.4% December).
15:50 US Ex-Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan speaks on the financial crisis, Brookings Institution, Washington.
The Psychology:
Vernal Equinox holiday in Japan on Monday 22nd and South Africa Human Rights Day.
The Risk:
US ‘triple witching’ in stocks, indices and futures today.
Today’s most interesting chart: EUR/CHF
On SNB official’s comments that rates can’t be low forever. Low yesterday 1.4355, almost matching the record low 1.4300 of 27th October 2008.
