Money and Metals

Forex Television has the early currency news. "The euro and the Swiss franc continued to gain against the dollar as rising oil prices and lower equities led investors to switch out of the US currency in favour of safe-haven assets. 'After over a fortnight of range-trading the FX market appears to have staged a break-out,' said HBOS analyst Steve Pearson."

"'Investors are increasingly optimistic on the prospects for euro zone growth and the market is getting close to fully pricing 3 pct ECB rates by year-end. In contrast, signs of weakness in the US housing market..are leading markets discount an imminent end to, and possible reversal of, the Feds tightening cycle,' Pearson said."

"A speech by ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet on Wednesday will be closely scrutinised, while a series of economic sentiment indicators out of Europe this week, including the key German Ifo survey, are expected to show further imrpovement in the euro zone economy."