The euro sliced through the 1.3000 level while the pound dropped below 1.4600 in early European trade as concern over ECB policy actions and some risk aversion flows in European equities weighed on high beta currencies at the start of the week. Comments over the week-end by ECB chief Jean Claude Trichet suggested that the central bank may lower rates by another 25bp to 1.00 percent while ECB Executive Board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi said the bank’s benchmark 1.25 percent interest rate is “very close” to its floor.

After posting a tiny rebound the month prior Eurozone Retail Sales turned negative in March posting their second monthly decline this year. EZ March Retail Sales contracted by -0.6% versus forecasts of -0.3% - their worst reading since December 2008 - as European consumers fearful of rising unemployment continued to curb their spending.

On a very quiet night of trade with Japan markets closed for a holiday, EUR/USD held its ground, for most of the early European session pivoting around the 1.3700 level. However news of a weak EZ Industrial Production report triggered a slew of stops and the pair tumbled to 1.3550 within a matter of minutes by midday European trade.

The euro and pound rose on the first trading day of the week as risk appetite returned to the currency market after US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner promised to release details of a new plan to use a private and public partnership funds to remove toxic assets off the balance sheets of US banks. Both Asian and European equities rose providing a strong bid tone to the risk currencies. Cable rallied through the 1.4100 handle and euro approached the psychologically key 1.3000 level by midday European trade.

Both the euro and pound gapped lower in Asia at the start of weekly trade after a disappointing EZ summit failed to come up with any coordinated solution to the growing Eastern European debt problem which threatens many Western European banks. With nearly $400 Billion of consumer and corporate Easter European debt, most of it denominated in euros and Swiss francs, due to be rolled over this year, EZ financial institutions face a specter of massive loans defaults unless some sort of a restructuring deal is reached.

The euro tumbled at the start of trade this week after the Eurozone summit on Sunday failed to produce any coordinated response to the growing financial crisis in Eastern Europe. Instead, EU officials led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel opted for out for “case by case” country solution, refusing to provide any specific details at the present time.

Eurozone unemployment for January increased by 256,000 claims taking the overall rate to 8.2% from 8.1% the month prior as the global recession continues to impact the 16 member economic union. While job losses in the region are still only half as large on a monthly basis as those in the US, the EZ has already lost 1.5 million jobs over the past four months and the trend is likely to accelerate as 2009 progresses.

Capital flight has driven the US dollar higher. On a day when President Obama signed the Economic Stimulus Package into law, the banking turmoil in Europe and the resignation of Japan’s Finance Minister has turned investors away from other major currencies. Even though the greenback is yielding next to nothing, investors are willing to park their money with the US government as long as they keep it safe. The lack of negative game changing news from the US has been very positive for the US dollar. The greenback and gold prices have been moving in tandem since January 14th. This unusual correlation is actually sending a strong message to currency traders.

A flurry of sell activity in early Asia trade sent the EUR/USD tumbling to a two month low as currency traders became increasingly concerned about the exposure of European financial institutions to the troubled assets in Eastern Europe. Last night Moody’s threatened to downgrade those European banks with large portfolio exposure to Central and Eastern Europe. According to Bloomberg, banks from Austria, Italy, France, Belgium, Germany and Sweden account for 84 percent of western European bank loans in Eastern Europe.

The EUR/USD continued its descent today in early European trade coming within 20 points of the 1.3200 figure as worries over the credit downgrade of Spain and a series of EUR/JPY sales weighed on the pair for a second day in a row. The Nikkei closed down nearly 5% after Japanese investors returned from their Monday holiday and this latest wave of risk aversion kept the pressure on the euro while propping the dollar and the yen.

The EUR/USD gave up all of it late Asian session gains slipping below the 1.3600 figure in early European trade as news of a much sharper than expected contraction in German Trade surplus weighed on the unit. German trade surplus shrank to 10.7 Billion euros - far worse than the 14.0 Billion euro expected by the market, as exports collapsed by more than 10% in November due to massive pullback in global demand for capital goods.