Italy Worries the Markets Again

The single European currency was trying, somehow, to take the helm of the $ 1.31 euro after the outcome of a parliamentary election that heralds a new political instability in Italy, the third economy in the euro area . After falling nearly 1% yesterday to 24:50 this afternoon, the euro is trying to put an end to a cycle of decline by 0.20% to 1.3080 clawing dollar. The peak in mid-session is at 1.3119, as such was the case yesterday.

Much awaited parliamentary elections held in Italy on Sunday and Monday led to a rising vote protest vote, at least in terms of votes received. But even on the side of the seats, the election bodes ill for the formation of a solid majority – and Credit Suisse also headline this morning a note about this ‘Minority Report’.

According to the traders of Societe Generale, which emphasize ‘strong protest anti-austerity’ harbored by this election, “which leaves virtually no chance to see a viable government day ‘. This is not so much the return of Silvio Berlusconi, who has materialized that the success of Beppe Grillo and his Movement 5 Stars (M5S), which seems to seal the fragmentation of the Italian Parliament. .

It is even possible, if unable to form a coalition government that new elections are called. No guarantee that a clear majority will emerge, says the trader.

‘The market’s worst fears are being realized’ deplores Chris Weston at IG. ‘The center-left coalition was able to pull the lower house of accuracy, but it lacks the 16 votes allies Pier Luigi Bersani, and Mario Monti in order to seize the upper house,’ says the strategist.

Consequence of the perception of a risk budget increased, the rate of Italian government bonds to 10 years on the secondary market jumped to 4.73%, after peaking at 4.93%.

However, it goes without saying that Italy is a country too big to consider funding non-market and response capacity of the ESM is not calibrated to deal with Italy ‘, says Oddo Equities.

‘Uncertainty is the enemy of the euro’, says Société Générale. And indeed beyond Italy, are concerns about the future of the euro zone may reappear after being forced last September by the decisions of the ECB (Toronto: BCE.TO – News) headed by Mario Draghi.

‘As for the ECB, she said enough that future interventions on the public debt markets previously assumed to have a reliable and credible partner engaging in reforms. This is no longer the case today ‘, says Oddo.

Against the yen, the euro cup from 0.60% to 120.31 yen, but gained 0.19% in contrast against the British Pound to 0.8626 and is finally stable against the Swiss franc (- 0.07 % to 1.2168 franc euro).

The side of the agenda of the American Statistical afternoon, traders will learn earlier sales of new homes expected up to 380,000 annualized rate in January, the index of consumer confidence calculated by the Conference Board, which is expected to grow to 61.1 in February.

Monetary Policy and the Fed (Again!)

Following the announcements of European political and monetary authorities the price of gold in London yesterday morning reached its highest level since February at 1742.75 dollars. Main catalyst: expectations launch a “QE 3″ by the Fed tonight. But as the deadline approaches the question enters of new operators. At the end of the first auction on the London market an ounce of gold was trading this morning 1730.5 dollars and 1339.8 euros.

According to Swiss metals traders the decline of gold began yesterday after the long-awaited decision of German Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe: they finally endorsed the participation of Germany in the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) intergovernmental fund with 500 billion euros. An important factor because the ECB has conditioned its possible purchase of debt to the accession of the state corresponding to the MES.

Either, but stresses that MKS Karlsruhe judges insisted on limiting the participation to the German MY share of $ 190 billion. To go beyond, a new German parliament’s vote is required. This is according to the speaker that this ad has lowered the price of gold yesterday. Others think it is a movement of profit taking before the announcement of the U.S. central bank, the Fed, whose monetary policy committee will end tonight and will be followed by a press conference.

According to economists forecasts the Fed should announce a third round of quantitative easing, or QE3, at the end of its two-day meeting which ends today extending its zero interest rate policy to 2015, summarized the brokers at RTFX analysts.

Recall that the U.S. central bank has already launched since late 2008 two times quantitative easing. In total they have led to the purchase of 2,200 billion dollars of federal debt obligations, para-public and securitized mortgages.

The Fed has broadened and degraded the quality of its balance sheet which had a negative impact on the relative value of the currency in which it is responsible, the U.S. dollar. Other central banks such as the Bank of England and the ECB now gradually followed suit. These actions of unconventional monetary policy explain much of the recent rise in gold according to many stakeholders they degrade the value of fiat currencies without intrinsic value.