For all you USD/JPY bulls out there, Morgan Stanley has apparently raised their stop on their long USD/JPY position to 81.90 , keeping their target at 85.50.

In the short term, just being told that real money sellers have just unloaded a bunch of USD’s in the pair but the market seems to soaking them up pretty well.

Order wise, there are some sizeable bids sitting down at 82.50/60 with sell stops down through 82.40. Topside offers remain at 83.00/10

• EU couldn’t have been totally prepared for crisis

I feel soooo reassured

• Budget cuts cannot be only response to crisis
• Urges strong growth policy underlined by adequate financial policies
• Need to restore confidence to boost growth, jobs
• No contradiction between growth, austerity (yer right)

Out of a targeted Eur 2-3 bln

Sold Eur 1.5 bln of 3 mth T bills , cover 3.5 (prev 4.0), yield 0.381% from 0.396% last time

Sold Eur 1.08 bln of 6 mth T bills, cover 5.6 (prev 10.2), yield 0.836% from 0.764% last time

Lower cover and under the full potential allotment, but better yields in the 3′s and worse in the 6′s … No noticeable reaction in the EUR/USD

BRUSSELS (MNI) – The European Central Bank may need to consider
using a wider set of non-standard measures should the Eurozone economic
crisis worsen, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
said in a report published on Tuesday.

The OECD also urged the currency bloc to boost the size of its
crisis firewalls and persevere with deficit and debt cutting, even
though it risks exacerbating the economic downturn.

The multi-lateral think tank praised the unconventional policies
adopted by the ECB last December — including almost E1 trillion in
cheap three-year loans to banks and a lowering of credit eligibility
standards — for having successfully lowered interbank lending rates and
lowering sovereign bond spreads. But the organization cautioned that
“market conditions remain far from normal” and that investor confidence
in the sovereign debt of Eurozone countries is “fragile.”

“With inflationary pressures expected to remain moderate in an
environment of weaker growth in the euro area and globally, the ECB has
eased monetary policy by reducing short-term interest rates and has
expanded the balance sheet to provide liquidity to banks and thereby
support the monetary transmission mechanism,” the OECD said. “A wider
set of non-standard measures could be needed if the transmission process
becomes further impaired,” it noted.

“At the same time, the effect of recent ECB measures is still
unfolding,” the Paris-based organisation said.

Eurozone governments need to take “decisive action” to stabilise
sovereign debt markets, including further expanding their stability
funds, the OECD report said, in a timely message to the bloc’s 17
finance ministers, who are set to debate the issue at a meeting in
Copenhagen this Friday and Saturday.

The OECD acknowledged that some key elements of the Eurozone’s
crisis strategy, including fiscal consolidation and bank
recapitalisations, risked “restricting economic activity before the
benefits of healthier public finances and growth-boosting reforms
materialise.” However, the government-financed policy institute said
that countries receiving financial bailouts “should stick to headline
targets.”

“Countries facing close market scrutiny should continue to meet the
agreed budgetary targets and stand ready to pursue further consolidation
measures if needed,” the OECD said.

Structural reforms to “boost growth, improve debt sustainability
and rebalance the economy” are also essential to help the Eurozone
improve what the OECD described as Europe’s weakest growth prospects in
20 years.

Improving the functioning of the EU single market through easier
cross-border business conditions and freeing up the movement of labour
between EU countries are essential, the OECD said.

–Brussels newsroom: +324-9522-8374; pkoh@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: M$$CR$,MGX$$$,M$X$$$,M$$EC$,MI$$$$]

We touched 1.5996 on that last run up with an Asian sovereign the main buyer, but the usual heavy offers in front of the barrier and the ubiquitous BIS offering in EUR/USD appears to have fended off any further attempts for the time being.

There are offers clustered up around 1.6020/35 should the barrier get flushed, but pressure’s off at the moment with a slip back to 1.5980. Bids sit down at 1.5930/35 and 1.5910/20.

Circa  1.3355.

Part of 1.3375 barrier protection?  Could well be.  We’re at 1.3350.

• ECB moves, fiscal steps having positive market impact
• Spanish data points to contraction in Q1

EUR/USD back at 1.3350, where we started the day.

Looks rather well supported in the 1.0500/10 region this morning after yesterday’s bounce courtesy of Mr Bernanke.

There are offers up to 1.0550 to chew through before we have another look at more offers from 1.0590/00, but Gold is lending a hand as well this morning with recent highs around 1694.

The move’s in tandem with a load of weak sell stops just tripped in the USD/ZAR through  7.5800 to lows of 7.5715 for those mad enough to trade that one….

AUD’s at 1.0542 and the ZAR’s around 7.5750

BERLIN (MNI) – Eurozone finance ministers are set to nominate
Luxembourg central bank governor Yves Mersch for a seat on the Executive
Board of the European Central Bank, the German business daily Financial
Times Deutschland (FTD) reported Tuesday, citing Eurozone sources.

The Eurogroup could nominate Mersch at its meeting on Friday, the
paper reported. The necessary majority is assured, according to FTD.

Spain has acknowledged that its candidate, Antonio Sainz de Vicuna,
no longer has a chance of being nominated, the newspaper said. In
return, Spain might demand that one of its nationals be appointed as
head of the planned permanent bailout fund, the European Stability
Mechanism (ESM), the paper said.

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

[TOPICS: M$X$$$,M$$EC$,MGX$$$]

Bloomberg reporting.

Jornal de Negocios reporting Portuguese government wants to cut spending by additional 10% in 2013 to 2015.

Cites internal FinMin document.

They mean business. Not sure what the natives will think of it

We’re at  .9048 from .9030 when I sat down.

Talk of buy stops through .9070.

We’re at 1.3335 from around 1.3350 when I sat down.

Talk of barriers now at 1.3375 and 1.3400.

Chinese names helped cap rally at 1.3366.  Haven’t heard any reports of Giant Panda (PBOC) being directly involved, but can’t help feeling they’ll not be far away.

Talk of buy orders clustered down at 1.3315/25.

No idea where stops are at the moment on either side of the market, but would hazard a guess some through 1.3300 on downside.

FRANCE DATA: March consumer morale 87; February 82
– Above expected; MNI analysts survey median forecast 82
– Buying-propensity unchanged
– Future inflation worries down eight points
– Jobless fears down six points
– See MNI MainWire for details

FRANCE DATA: Dec-Feb sa housing starts +3.7% q/q; nsa +4.8% y/y
- Dec-Feb sa housing permits -1.2% q/q, nsa +10.4% y/y

Bloomberg reporting.

Japan’s Rating and Investment Information Inc has affirmed Finland’s AAA rating, but downgraded outlook to “negative” from “stable”

Cites Finland’s competitiveness and slow-down in information and communications technology industry.

February: +1.0% m/m, +3.5% y/y

MNI survey median: +1.0% m/m, +3.1% y/y
MNI survey range: +0.6% to +1.1% m/m

January: +1.3% m/m, +3.7% y/y
December: +0.3% m/m, +3.9% y/y
–

FRANKFURT (MNI) – Import prices in Germany maintained their upward
trend in February on the back of costlier energy, though the pace of
increase declined, the Federal Statistical Office reported on Tuesday.

After accelerating to +1.3% in January, import price inflation
slowed as expected to +1.0% on the month in February to give an annual
rate of +3.5%, the slowest rise since early 2010.

Core import price inflation, which excludes crude oil (+4.5% m/m,
+17.0% y/y) and petroleum products (+3.9% m/m, +19.1% y/y), came to
+0.4% on the month and +1.4% on the year. Filtering out energy as a
whole, the prices rose a more modest 0.3% and 0.5% on the month and
year, respectively.

Boosted by supply issues in non-OPEC areas and ongoing tensions
between the west and Iran, high oil prices are likely to continue to
underpin imported inflation in Germany and pose a significant downside
risk to the global economy.

Last week, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine
Lagarde said that recent developments in oil had overtaken the Eurozone
sovereign debt crisis as the biggest concern for global growth.

Costlier fuel and raw materials lifted input price inflation to a
five-month high in March, a PMI report noted. However, clients were able
to avoid the full burden of higher costs, as output price inflation
remained moderate.

Often the first to reflect changing trends in commodity prices,
intermediate goods imports were 0.8% more expensive than in January,
though they were 0.9% cheaper compared to February 2011.

Capital goods import prices slipped 0.2% m/m to give an annual rate
of +0.8%. Consumer goods were also cheaper on the month, falling 0.3%,
but were up 2.8% on the year.

Export prices were up 0.3% m/m, reducing the annual gain to +2.0%,
the statistics office added.

– Frankfurt bureau: +49-69-720 142; email: frankfurt@marketnews.com –

[TOPICS: MTABLE,M$G$$$,MAGDS$,M$XDS$,M$X$$$]

GERMANY DATA: Import prices rose by an expected 1.0% on the month in
February to give an annual rate of +3.5%, the Federal Statistical
Office reported on Tuesday.
– Germany February export prices +0.3% m/m, +2.0% y/y;
January +2.1% y/y
– Germany February ex-oil/oil products +0.4% m/m, +1.4% y/y
– Germany February import prices: energy goods +3.3% m/m, +17.0% y/y
– Germany February import prices: oil +4.5% m/m;natural gas -0.4% m/m
– Germany February import prices: petroleum products +3.9% m/m
– See MNI MainWire for details

DAX and CAC 40 futures both up +0.7%.

Down from 6 in March and below Reuter’s median forecast of 6.1.

Elsewhere,  German February import prices +1.0% m/m, +3.5% y/y, marginally stronger than Reuter’s median forecasts of +0.9%, +3.4% respectively

EUR/USD sits at 1.3350.

What d’ya think we’ll see first now, 1.3250 or 1.3450.

Reasoning/s behind choice always very much welcome but not obligatory.