• German new car registration up almost 1% in first half to more than 1.6 mln vehicles

Wish I could afford a nice new Audi

Bloomberg reporting.

• Said to plan to sell t-bills as soon as July 5
• Said to plan sale of about 500 mln euros of 3-month t-bills
• T-bill sale would be first public issuance since September 2010

Irish debt spokesman declined to comment.

PARIS (MNI) – Beyond fiscal consolidation, the Eurozone needs a
“concrete leap” towards more financial integration in order to overcome
the debt crisis and prosper over the longer term, ECB Governing Council
member Christian Noyer said Tuesday.

The “cure” of the crisis must start with deficit reduction and a
“more credible fiscal discipline framework,” the governor of the Bank of
France told a Europlace conference here.

“At current debt levels, economic agents would react to fiscal
permissiveness by delaying their own private expenditure,” Noyer warned.
“Financial markets would continue to impose very punitive interest rates
on our countries to compensate for the uncertainty in the fiscal
outlook.”

There is “no trade-off” between consolidation and measures to
enhance growth, since the benefits of consolidation “far outweigh” the
negative effects on demand in the short run, he argued.

There is also “some room” for public support for growth, especially
the kind of long-term growth-enhancing projects planned with the E120
billion package agreed by EU leaders last weekend, he said.

Structural reforms for goods, services and labor markets are also
essential to overcome the “competitiveness gaps” that have led to
imbalances within the Eurozone, Noyer stressed. “The progress already
made in many countries is impressive.”

Stronger financial integration in the banking sector requires
unified supervision at the ECB and decentralized implementation via the
national central banks, he said. A deposit guarantee scheme “with
massive firepower” is also needed, as is a banking resolution scheme.

Surmounting the “substantial obstacles” on the road towards fiscal
union will require “unfailing political will” from all Eurozone members,
Noyer said. “I think that we saw a demonstration of this will during the
summit of last week. The work on the financial union has now started and
we are determined to make it successful.”

–Paris newsroom +331 4271 5540; email: ssandelius@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: M$$EC$,M$F$$$,M$X$$$,MGX$$$,MFX$$$,MT$$$$]

With the EUR/USD poll done on 29/6 having seen it’s topside 1.2650 parameter met, guess it’s time for another poll.

We sit at 1.2590.

What’ll we see first, 1.2500 or 1.2700.

Reasoning/s behind choice also appreciated, but not obligatory.

Will be interesting to see whether we get any sort of strong consensus, though I tend to doubt it.

LONDON (MNI) – Foreign investors reduced their holdings of gilts
for the fourth month in a row in May, according to new data from the
Bank of England.

The BOE’s Bankstats data set show non-residents cut their gilt
exposures by stg1.628 billion in May after having reduced their holdings
by stg1.283 billion in April.

The data also show that foreign investors reduced their holdings of
UK Treasury Bills for the second consecutive month, cutting their
exposure by stg536 million after having reduced it by stg1.208 billion
in April.

The BOE was not carrying out quantitative easing in May, removing
the central bank’s bulk buying from the market. Speculation QE would
resume only really intensified in June.

-London newsroom: 4420 7862 7491 e-mail: wwilkes@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: M$B$$$,M$$BE$]

LONDON (MNI) – Mortgage approvals declined and the growth in net
mortgage lending slowed sharply in May, Bank of England data published
Wednesday showed.

Net mortgage lending rose just Stg563 million in May, down from
Stg1.048 billion in April, hitting its lowest level since September last
year. Mortgage approvals dipped to 51,098 in May from 51,627 in April.

The stamp duty (property transaction tax) holiday which expired in
March boosted housing market activity at the start of this year, but the
May data suggest activity has tailed away. Approvals are running at just
59% of their long run average, of 86,730 for the data series dating back
to April 1993.

Unsecured borrowing rose fairly sharply in May. Net consumer credit
increased to Stg732 million from Stg379 million in April, but this was
still below the Stg752 million seen in March.

The broad money data showed small declines on the month, but the
yearly growth rates are up on recent record lows.

M4 declined 0.1% on the month in May to stand down 4.1% on the
year, down from the -4.0% on the year in April but up from the -4.8%
series low seen in March.

M4 ex-IOFCs, which excludes economically irrelevant intra-financial
sector transactions, was also down 0.1% on the monthand up 3.1% on a 12
month basis, below the 3.6% recorded in April.

BOE Governor Mervyn King has highlighted the weakness of broad
money growth as one of the factors suggesting inflation would decline.

-London newsroom: +44 207 862 7491 email: drobinson@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: M$B$$$,M$$BE$,MABDS$]

Down sharply from 54.4 in May and demonstrably weaker than Reuters’ median forecast of 53.0.

Lowest read since December 2009.

Markit says drop partly due to extra holiday in June, but wide reports of weaker underlying business.

Elsewhere

UK May mortgage approvals 51,098, better than Reuter’s median forecast of 50,300

However, May mortgage lending +0.6% versus +1.0 bln in April, weaker than Reuters’ median forecast of +0.8 bln and lowest since September 2011.

• Euro zone countries’ efforts on fiscal discipline already bearing fruit, pace of consolidation quicker than in other areas
• Positive effects of fiscal consolidation on confidence far outweigh its negative short-term effects on demand
• Must improve competitiveness with structural reforms
• Some room for direct public support for growth
• Euro zone needs financial union
• Euro zone needs unified supervision of all banks headed by the ECB, but decentralised to national central banks
• Banking system strength of crucial important to euro zone
• Significant threat from lack of supranational bank deposit guarantee
• Deposit guarantee scheme should have “massive firepower”, with annual contribution from banks and borrowing with guarantee of member states

WASHINGTON (MNI) – The American Bankers Association Tuesday said
consumer delinquencies fell in a11 but one of the loan categories it
tracks. The composite ratio, which tracks delinquencies in eight
closed-end installment loan categories, fell 14 basis points to 2.35% of
all accounts in the first quarter of this year, the best quarter since
2007 and below the 15-year average of 2.40%.

Bank card delinquencies also continued to decline, falling to 3.08%
in Q1 from 3.17% in Q4, the lowest since 2001.

The following is the full text of details provided by the ABA:

Consumer delinquencies fell in 10 of 11 categories tracked by the
American Bankers Association, which today released results from the
first quarter 2012 Consumer Credit Delinquency Bulletin.

The composite ratio, which tracks delinquencies in eight closed-end
installment loan categories, fell 14 basis points to 2.35 percent of all
accounts in the first quarter, the best quarter since 2007 and below the
15-year average of 2.40 percent. Bank card delinquencies also continued
their descent, falling nine basis points to 3.08 percent of all accounts
in the first quarter, the lowest since 2001 and below the 15-year
average of 3.93 percent. The ABA report defines a delinquency as a late
payment that is 30 days or more overdue.

Overall, ABA Chief Economist James Chessen said the news was very
encouraging, considering delinquencies declined in nearly every
category. In the previous quarter, delinquencies fell in all 12
categories.

“This is another strong quarter of improving delinquencies.
Consumers have done a remarkable job getting their finances under
control,” Chessen said. “Improvement was all the more remarkable when
you consider that gas prices rose 66 cents a gallon in the first quarter
alone. That’s a significant amount of money that was diverted from other
uses, including paying off debt. Gas prices have fallen 48 cents a
gallon since the first quarter so that pressure has abated somewhat and
freed up precious resources,” he added.

The only category where delinquencies rose was home equity lines of
credit. Chessen attributed the increase to the painful adjustment still
underway in the housing sector. “It will be many quarters before
delinquencies on home equity loans get back to anything close to
normal,” he said.

But Chessen said consumers have ample reason to feel positive.

“Overall debt levels have declined dramatically and savings
continues to grow. This means many consumers have more capacity to
absorb a financial shock, and that’s a good place to be,” he said. (See
economic charts.)

Looking forward, Chessen expects delinquency rates to continue to
improve but not as dramatically as in the last two quarters.

“We’ve moved back to historical norms now and further improvement
could be hard to achieve. The economy has slowed recently and
uncertainty remains high. This means banks will continue their prudent
approach to extending new consumer credit as high unemployment levels
are still creating loan losses,” Chessen said. “However, continued
growth in jobs, moderating gas prices, and steady growth in personal
income all will help consumers build a strong financial base.”

The first quarter 2012 composite ratio is made up of the following
eight closed-end loans. All figures are seasonally adjusted based upon
the number of accounts.

CLOSED-END LOANS

Decreased Delinquencies:

– Personal loan delinquencies fell from 2.87 percent to 2.01
percent.

– Direct auto loan delinquencies fell from 1.06 percent to 0.86
percent.

– Indirect auto loan delinquencies fell from 2.47 percent to 2.41
percent.

– Mobile home delinquencies fell from 3.76 percent to 3.25 percent.

– RV loan delinquencies fell from 1.31 percent to 1.11 percent.

– Marine loan delinquencies fell from 1.57 percent to 1.44 percent.

– Property improvement loan delinquencies fell from 0.93 percent to
0.83 percent.

– Home equity loan delinquencies fell from 4.08 percent to 4.00
percent.

In addition, ABA tracks three open-end loan categories:

OPEN-END LOANS

Increased Delinquencies:

– Home equity lines of credit delinquencies rose from 1.69 percent
to 1.78 percent.

Decreased Delinquencies:

– Non-card revolving loan delinquencies fell from 1.40 percent to
1.18 percent.

– Bank card delinquencies fell from 3.17 percent to 3.08 percent.

** MNI Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **

[TOPICS: M$U$$$,MK$$$$,MAUDS$,MTABLE]

GERMANY DATA: May machine orders -6%; April -11%; March -4%: VDMA
– VDMA: May domestic machine orders -8% y/y;foreign orders -4%
– VDMA: March-May total orders -6% y/y;domestic -9%; foreign -5%
– See MNI MainWire for details

• Finland, Netherlands have no ESM majority
• EU institutional complexity is hurting Spain
• Bank aid memorandum of understanding talks well advanced
• ESM will be available to help Spanish banks
• ESM direct injections likely cited in memorandum of understanding
• Interest rate of EU bank aid not part of memorandum of understanding
• Memorandum of understanding may include estimate of FROB banks’ needs
• FROB banks will request capital within weeks
• EU aid will be requested on case to case basis

Hard to disagree

by 98.853 people in fact, as more hiring for summer jobs  to cover a potentially busy tourist season  sparks the highest June rise in employment on record.

Hardly surprising seeing the weather were having here!.

Under 25′s jobless fell by almost 8% 

BERLIN (MNI) – Germany’s lower house of parliament, the Bundestag,
plans to vote on the European fiscal aid for Spain’s banks at the end of
July, Germany daily Bild reported Tuesday, citing sources from the
German government coalition.

The Bundestag is to deliberate on the aid program at earliest in
the week from July 23, the paper wrote.

Spain has requested up to E100 billion for its ailing banking
sector from Europe’s rescue funds.

–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: M$X$$$,MGX$$$,M$$CR$,M$G$$$,M$S$$$]

According to Reuters, search for a new Chief executive will begin immediately with outgoing Chairman Marcus Agius becoming full time Chairman leading the hunt for his replacement…

It now appears that the ECB  pushed for a review of the Irish bailout during last week’s EU summit.

Ireland’s quarterly review of its bailout programme starts today with ‘Troika’ officials arriving in Dublin for 10 days

Enda kenny pushed  for similar treatment  for Ireland  that was being considered for Spain and Italy, despite opposition from Holland and Finland, and  support  from ECB’s Asmussen and  EFSF’s Regling  eventually led to a move  for reconsideration and a review

More…     Irish Times

EUR/USD:  Offers 1.2600/10, and 1.2665/75,   bids 1.2550/60, sell stops through 1.2550

GBP/USD:   Offers 1.5710/20 buy stops above ahead of tech res 1.5745/50(200 day MA at 1.5751).  Bids 1.5640/50 and 1.5600/10

EUR/GBP:  tech supp 0.8010/15 (Fri lows) ahead of bids 0.7990/00, barriers below at 0.7950 and 0.7900, large sell stops through both. Offers 0.8035/40 and tech res 0.8055/70 (0.8056 /69 21/55 day MA's)

USD/JPY:   Strong offers 79.80/00 from exporters, sovereigns, buy stops through 80.07 Ichimoku cloud base, and 80.65, Bids from 79.30 down to 79.00 (talk of semi official interest). Sell stops through 79.00

EUR/JPY:   Offers 100.50/60 and 100.85/00,  Tech supp 99.90/00 and bids 99.50/60

AUD/JPY:  Tech supp 81.20/30 possible sell stops through 81.00 ahead of tech support around the 200 day MA at 80.88, Offers 82.00/10, buy stops 82.80

EUR/CHF: Bids 1.2000/10(SNB), Offers 1.2025/50 buy stops through 1.2055

AUD/USD: Bids 1.0230/40 sell stops below, more bids  1.0200/10, sell stops through 1.0200 and 1.0180 ahead of tech support 1.0140/60, (tech levels 200/100 day MA 1.0252/1.0265) , tech res 1.0275/80 and  offers 1.0290/00 (real money) ahead of tech res 1.0350/55

EUR/AUD:  Tech supp 1.2250/55, 1.2215/20 and 1.2145/50, tech res 1.2320/25 and 1.2355/60

AUD/NZD: Bids 1.2700/10, offers 1.2770/80

NZD/USD:  Sell stops down through 0.8020 and 0.8000, res 0.8055/65

USD/CAD: tech support 1.0120/25 (200 day MA 1.0121), offers 1.0190/00

Financial bookies see FTSE opening up as much as +0.3%, DAX up as much as +0.4% and CAC 40 up as much as +0.5%.

C’mon mate, play the game!!

Rintaro Tamaki said “There is a belief that a strong yen is bad and a weak yen is good, but in fact, if the currency was weak for a prolonged period and became a structural problem, this would cause a very large distortion in Japan’s economy”