Snippets of the day Tue 17 Mar 09

-Positive day overall for trading on NY trade on Tue

-Positive for securitization market, Nissan’s USD 1.3bn TALF eligible auto ABS deal was 4-5 times oversubscribed

- Feb housing starts posted surprise 22.2% jump to 583k units vs 477k in Jan
o From extreme levels however, so take this with a pinch of salt

-Dow higher by 2.5%

-IMF revises down global growth to –0.6% from –0.5% for ’09. US to shrink –2.6%, EZ by 3.2% and Japan –5%

-FX had been rangey

-USDJPY stayed within 98 handle

-German ZEW Investor Index higher than expected
o ECB: ‘first signs of hope seen’

-EURUSD finally pushed higher to close above 1.30
o Positive short term technical indicators for the pair as follows:
§ Chaikin money flow index in +ve territory
§ MACD (short dated) touches +ve territory as well

-Spore Feb NODX fell 23.7% more or less in line with expectations, however USDSGD fell to close under 1.53 in NY trade following EUR strength