Today Italian government will vote on austerity measures to regain investors' confidence and prepare for the new government supposed to be headed by Mario Monti, a former EU Competition Commissioner. According to Gianfanco Fini, speaker of the parliament, Berlusconi is expected to resign immediately after the vote. Fini points out that unity government can be formed only if Berlusconi supports Monti's technocrat government.
USD
As new machinery orders revived in September to $32.6B (best result since July 2008), machinery stocks ruled the market today. S&P Supercomposite machinery index has increased by 26% since October. After release of this data, many economists claimed risk of second crisis wave is less probable.
GBP
PPI input decreased by 0.8% in October, giving early signals of potential deflation for UK. Analysts had expected a stagnation of this indicator last month (0.0%), and September reading was revised upwards to 1.8%. Meanwhile, PPI output halted (0.0%) last month, despite a 0.2% growth forecast.
JPY
Wealthy Japanese banks with more than $6B in spare money are negotiating asset purchases from banks in Euro-area, sources familiar with matter claimed. European banks have contacted their Japanese counterparts for asset sales, but no specific details are on the table yet. Analysts believe that Japanese banks will wait for assets to become cheaper, and make significant purchases in 2012.
CHF
Official SNB exchange rate for EUR/CHF is at CHF 1.2354 today; 3-month LIBOR CHF remains at 0.04% (within target range of 0.00-0.25). Yields for 10-year Swiss Confederation bonds are standing at 0.93% today. SMI stock index has gained 1.06% since, and is currently fluctuating around 5623 points.