Forex News 25-03-2009

European Economics Preview: German Ifo Business Confidence Forecast To Deteriorate
Wednesday, the only major report due for the day is German Ifo business confidence.

At 4.00am ET, the Czech Statistical Office is scheduled to issue business and consumer confidence for March. In February, the consumer confidence indicator dropped 1.7 points to 74.2 and business confidence declined to 73.7 from 76.9 in January.

In the meantime, the National Institute of Statistics is set to release the Spanish PPI report for February. Producer prices are forecast to fall 0.8% annually in February compared to a 0.6% fall in January.

Thereafter, Italian consumer confidence survey results are due from the research institute ISAE at 4.30am ET. Consumer confidence is seen at 103 in March, down from 104.1 last month.
At 5.00am ET, the Munich-based Ifo Institute for Economic Research is slated to issue a monthly German business confidence survey for March. Business confidence is expected to fall to a historical low of 82.2 in March from 82.6 last month. The current conditions index is seen at 82.5 compared to 84.3 in February.

At the same time, Norwegian unemployment is due from the Statistics Norway. The jobless rate is expected to rise to 3.2% during December to February.

Afterwards, a quarterly Distributive Trades survey is expected from the Confederation of British Industry at 7.00am ET.


US Market Commentary
Stocks Set For Decent Open After Obama Proclaims "Signs of Progress"

Wall Street was in a decent frame of mind Wednesday morning in New York after President Barack Obama said last night that he saw "signs of progress" on the economic front.

As of 6:15 am ET, the Dow Futures were up 30 points, the NASDAQ Futures were up 5 points, and the S&P Futures were up 4 points.

Stocks pulled back on Tuesday, paring some of the standout gains posted in the previous session. The Dow closed down 115.65 points or 1.5 percent at 7,660.21, the Nasdaq closed down 37.34 points or 2.4 percent at 1,518.43 and the S&P 500 closed down 16.58 points or 2 percent at 806.34.

Speaking at his second prime time TV news conference from the White House, President Obama last night said the multi-part strategy will take time to be reverse the economic problems that developed over a number of years. "There will be no quick fixes. There are no silver bullets," Obama said.

"We will recover from this recession," Obama said. "But it will take time, it will take patience."

A day after taking heat from Congress about the AIG bailout fiasco, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will talk about the economic and financial crises at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
Trading on Wednesday could be impacted by the release of reports on durable goods orders and new home sales. Fuel supplies figures are also due out.Traders are also likely to keep an eye on speeches from Fed Presidents Yellen and Pinalto.

In corporate news Wednesday, British bank HSBC Holdings Plc (HBC: News ,HSBA.L: News ) is likely to cut about 1,000 jobs in the U.K. in processing and operations and may close some administration sites, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the situation.

Wednesday, British cigarette company Imperial Tobacco Group PLC (IMT.L: News ) said its expected overall performance for the year ending September 30 remains in line with management's expectations. In a separate statement, the company revealed the appointment of Alison Cooper as Chief Operating Officer, with immediate effect.

Automaker Ford Motor Co. (F: News ), in a proxy filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission providing details of its 2009 annual meeting to seek shareholders approval for issuing common stock, said its Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally's salary, without bonus, declined 78% to $2 million in 2008 with a further 30% reduction due for 2009 and 2010.

Asian stocks were mostly weaker on Wednesday, with Tokyo's Nikkei shedding 2 percent. European shares were little-changed in intraday dealing.