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Economists begin to salivate ahead of their own Cup Final on Wednesday

Daily View - 10th March...

Its Budget week again and we will all be encouraged to fulminate about a penny here or a fiver there, as if these tiny little pinpricks on the overall momentum of government take & spend will really make a blind bit of difference.

Back in the real world, the FTSE is looking weak once more as the follow through from Friday's dire US Non Farm Payroll numbers continues to reverberate across the markets. Captain Darling's comments a couple of weeks ago about the UK's resilience in the face of a slowing US economy should be taken from the angle that he is in fact just a small-town (in Scotland) solicitor, and not a world-renowned economist as you would expect for the head of the Treasury in a G7 nation.

The early calls were for some 50 points off but the resilience of the Far Eastern markets (which rallied towards their respective closes) meant that buyers were around for the Europeans on the open and the market has bounced up to near the 5700 level early on. Unfortunately initial optimism has a habit these days of running out of steam as the trading sessions progress, so do not be surprised if we revist the lows again through the day.

On the FX front the pound is stable above 2.000 at 2.0170-2.0173 and this is not particularly surprising given the news that the Fed is almost certain to knock another 0.75% off rates at the next FOMC meeting. The carry trade (remember that) may now find a new pairing where the Dollar replaces the Yen as the weak partner. Unfortunately, the Dollar weakness has not translated into Sterling strength and, aside from vs the greenback, the Pound is still near to all-time or multi-year lows.

Commodities have paused for breath after last weeks jumps and slumps. The $ falls continue to bolster precious metals but today looks to be a quiet one with Gold attempting to regain $980 in early action.