Some good news in Europe

Daily Forex Brief
London: Friday 2nd March 2012


Some good news in Europe

The deadline and hurdles for Greece are passing at a pace. Yesterday it was the decision that CDS would not be activated on Greek bonds, although this does not mean that they won't be in the future (for lengthy technical reasons). The other factor to note is that, even thought the EU has delayed the approval of the full EUR 130bln of the second aid package, there were positive responses to the degree of progress made by Greece to date in fulfilling the 38 requirements needed before full approval will be given. Don't expect any major headlines from the remainder of the EU summit today, with just a set-piece signing of the 'fiscal compact' on the main agenda. The other small slice of good news was an agreement to further speed up payments into the new rescue fund (European Stability Mechanism) which starts in the middle of the year. The single currency was feeling heavy during yesterday's session though, seemingly still pondering the implications of the ECB cash injection from earlier in the week.

+1rep for news =)