Mixed Messages from the Eurogroup Regarding Future of Bailouts in Eurozone

Eurogroup Head Jeroen Dijsselbloem Puts his Foot in His Mouth:

A positive day for European stocks yesterday, buoyed by optimistic investor confidence around the new Cyprus deal. The only thing that managed to soften the sentiment were comments made by the head of the Eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem. He said that the bailout plan received by Cyprus is the first of a new type of rescue plan to deal with banking crises in the Eurozone and just like Cyprus other countries need to think about the restructure of their banks. Later on in his comments, he seemed to go back on what he’d said, mentioning Cyprus was a specific case with its own exceptional challenges.

Stocks

This morning the EURO STOXX 50 inched up by 0.23 per cent, the French CAC rose by 0.53 per cent and the German DAX 30 gained 0.26 per cent.

Stocks in the US closed down yesterday after optimism over the Cyprus deal wore off as investors came to terms with what the deal means for both the depositors and the bondholders. By the end of US session SJIA was down 0.44 per cent, the S&P 500 closed down by 0.33 per cent and the NASDAQ was down 0.30 per cent.

Asian stocks in overnight trading were lower following from Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselboems comments that the Cyprus deal could be a template for other nations. The Nikkei 225 dropped 0.24 per cent. This came despite the BOJ’s release for corporate service price indices which suprassed expectations. The CSPI rose 0.1 per cent last month which beat expectations of no change. The figure int eh previous month was -0.2 per cent.

The Hang Seng shed 0.54 per cent and the Shanghai Composite lost 1.52 per cent. The Australian ASX200 lost 0.7 per cent. 

Forex

Greenback was holding firm against its other major counterparts this morning with the EURUSD adding 0.19 per cent to 1.2878. The EUR was supported by the fact that a deal was finally reached in Cyprus. The dollar was also firm against the GBP with the GBPUSD pair creeping up just 0.02 per cent to 1.5182. The USD held steady against the JPY and the CHF with the USDJPY creeping up 0.06 per cent to 94.10 and the Swissie losing just 0.03 per cent to 0.9483. The USDCAD was down 0.07 per cent to 1.0206, AUDUSD crept up by 0.11 per cent to 1.0475 and NZDUSD added just 0.1 per cent to 0.8350. EURGBP was almost unmoved with a slight addition of 0.08 per cent, where there pair touched 0.8475. 

Commodities

Crude oil was up this morning, with May futures prices at $94.98 a barrel. Gold was trading slightly lower in early Asian trading, Gold for June delivery was priced at $1605.15 which is a 0.08 per cent gain. 

Today

Later today in the US expect durable goods orders and new home sales aswell as consumer confidence. Check out the economic calendar.