Dire Friday caps worst week for stocks........>

FOREX: Dire Friday caps worst week for stocks since 2008

- Another downtick for global equities Friday capped a miserable week for risk

appetite, with indices in the US, Europe and Asia entering market correction

territory having fallen over 10% from their recent peak. This kept JPY buoyant

throughout the week, with EMFX bearing the brunt. The likes of the BRL, ZAR, RUB

and others are particularly weak as markets suspect long-EMFX carry trades

funded via the EUR are being unwound in large quantities.

- The month-end WMR fix proved particularly eventful as AUD, CHF, GBP and others

were slammed into the close. This resulted in a new cycle and multi-year low for

AUD/USD just ahead of the RBA rate decision. Most see no change to policy but

there is an increasing risk of a cut.

- The coming week is the last before the Fed blackout period begins, so plenty

of focus will be paid to speeches from the various Fed members up until Friday.

On the data side, Chinese PMI, US ISM data, Eurozone CPI estimate and the

February nonfarm payrolls report are all due. The list of Democratic

Presidential nominees should shorten following Super Tuesday.