European morning wrap: Muddling Monday morning……

Japanese Vice FinMin:  In final stages of discussion with IMF.  Undecided when to announce IMF assistance. Must consult partners before IMF decision New Zealand FinMin: Wider yuan band beneficial for New Zealand New Zealand PM: New Zealand govt is considering ways to resist currency appreciation BOJ's Shirakawa: Global economy hasn't fully recovered from slump Dutch auction results EU's Rehn: ECB's LTRO had 'initial positive impact.' Conditions being set for inter-bank improvement. Weaker banks need significant restructuring Eurozone February trade surplus 2.8 bln, slightly below median forecast of 3.0 bln Swimming naked in Brazil's bubbly waters - AEP at The Telegraph You know you're struggling when two of your wrap headlines come from New Zealand officials. Don't get me wrong I've never met a New Zealander I didn't like,  but the country's hardly a global powerhouse. EUR/USD sits at 1.3030, about 8 pips from where it was when I first sat down.  European stocks opened lower and periphery/german govt bond yield spreads widened fairly sharply early.  This was enough to enable the euro bears to take out the well-documented 1.3000 barrier opption interest. But as we've seen on so many occassions of late, there just wasn't any followthrough in Europe.  We were quickly back above 1.3000 and as European stocks have recovered, and as periphery/German govt bond yield spreads have stopped widening, so the single curency has recovered. USD/JPY effectively unchanged at 80.75, steadying after brief dip to 80.45.  Sell stops seen clustered now through 80.30. Cable very marginally firmer at 1.5840 from early 1.5825.  A 15 pip net change in cable tells you what kind of market its been.