EUR/USD was essentially unchanged in morning European trade after an early bout of risk appetite in Asia quickly faded on announcement that Secretary Treasury Geithner’s plan to rescue the financial system would not be revealed until Tuesday. The pair managed to climb within a few points on the 1.3000 level in Sydney and very early Tokyo on some follow through from Friday’s rally in the DJIA, but the Japanese stocks could not hold their gains in the wake of the announcement by Nissan that it will cut 20,000 jobs as the result of weakening global demand.

EUR/USD managed to stage a mild rebound in Asian and early European session today, bouncing above the 1.2800 handle after selling off yesterday on disappointment at ECB’s inflexibility on interest rates. The euro rally, however was capped by news that German GDP would print worse than expected at -2.0% versus forecast of a -1.8% contraction. Nevertheless, the downside revision could hardly be considered a surprise to the market given the horrid series of economic data emanating from Germany all week long and the focus is likely to shift to the US NFP report due 13:30 GMT

Last week’s counter trend rally in GBP/USD came to a crushing halt in early London trade today as the unit slid nearly 300 points off its highs having reached key resistance at the 1.4500 level before the week-end. The worst snowstorm to hit UK in more than 15 years added to the sterling’s woes as businesses struggled to open at the start of the week. The primary cause for the down draft however was simple risk aversion and profit taking.

The EUR/USD drifted lower in early European trade after an initial burst of risk appetite dissipated in wake of further evidence of slowing consumer demand in the region. The pair climbed above the 1.2900 barrier in late Japanese trading on the back of an announcement by BOJ that the central bank would purchase up $111.5 Billion of Japanese banking shares. However, the enthusiasm faded after the release of German Retails Sales disappointed once again sending the pair down to test support at 1.2800 figure.