·         ECB and BOE both keep rates and QE on hold

·         Greek debt issue goes well although yield is high

·         EU meeting to go ahead in Berlin

·         US Non-Farms due at 13.30; expectations are for a 68k fall.

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Investors favoured the dollar yesterday as they jumped into haven assets before today’s volatile US jobs figure. Both the Bank of England and the European Central Bank decided to continue their respective policy rates of 0.5% and 1.0%.

Greece was in the spotlight again yesterday as it auctioned off EUR5bn of 10 year bonds which were well received by the market. The yield on the issue was high however; 6.41% is 2 per cent higher than Portuguese debt for a similar time frame and nearly double that of the average bund. As a result euro strengthened in morning trade before slackening violently in the afternoon session as focus switched to Trichet’s press conference and the meeting of EU ministers today in Berlin.

Trichet was not particularly bearish in his speech but it seems that the market viewed the withdrawal of certain liquidity provisions as a negative given the earlier, weak GDP figure for the EU as a whole (0.1%).

The Bank of England meeting was even more of a damp squib with everything going as predicted and no statement forthcoming. Further on the sterling front it seems the Prudential/AIG tie up is safer than it was on Tuesday. Prudential have seen their share price fall by over 20% since they announced their intentions to buy AIG’s Asian operations o risks that the deal is too dilutive; they have spread underwriting over an apparent 30 banks in the past week. In other words I doubt, barring the deal falling over entirely, this will have little effect on sterling any more.

Today is of course Non-Farm Friday; the most important piece of US-centric data in the month and one of the most volatile releases in the Global calendar. Market expectations are for a fall in jobs of around 68,000 people. This is mainly due to the terrible winter conditions experienced by most of the US during the month of February. That is due at 13.30 alongside the US unemployment rate that currently sits at 9.7%. We also have UK PPI at 09.30 and the aforementioned meeting in Berlin this morning.

Have a great weekend.