• Chinese premier Wen suggests that China will buy Euro bonds. Normally China expressing an interest in a Euro market is a prelude to disaster (see Greece, Portugal and Spain for details), but on this occasion it might just be diplomatic courtesy to Merkel, who was visiting. Merkel asserted the integrity of the Euro again.
• The Beige Book from the US Fed indicated an economy that was expanding, but not rapidly. The US national pastime of visiting the shopping mall is being pursued, and housing is strong, both of which may give support to today's consumer spending data.
• The pattern of US growth is not uniform, and this suggests that any policy response needs to move away from the generic and become more sophisticated. We believe that the Fed may chose to mimic the Bank of England's attempts to stimulate lending - and UK lending data is due today.
• Data today includes consumer and business confidence from the Euro area, which is of limited import (there not being much confidence to go around). However, the Italian bond auction results are likely to be watched as investors speculate about possible ECB involvement in the secondary markets.

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