Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen said Saturday he wasn't in a position to comment on who would succeed Jean-Claude Juncker as head of the so-called Eurogroup of euro-zone finance ministers, and that he wouldn't even think about the job if it was full-time post.

Whilst AUD/USD players eventually took out the 1.0350 barrier overnight in the aftermath of shocking PMI releases from the EZ and in particularly Germany, there was not much further follow through. AUD/USD bottomed out at 1.0336 and climbed higher during the NY session in stuttering fashion to close on Thursday at 1.0389.

USD/AXJ is set to open higher across the board after the fallout from the China flash PMI reading continued in early Europe after a shocking run of PMI numbers from EZ countries headlined by Germany.

       Market Briefs

• US Feb Housing Starts 698k vs. 706k (revised from 699k), expected 700k
• US Feb Building Permits 717k vs. 682k, expected 690k
• Fed Bernanke: lessons of history is that central l banks should not move too quickly to reverse monetary accommodation after deep recession, gold standard not feasible
• Fed Powell: regulatory system must do better, Fed can’t shrink balance sheet too quickly and snuff out recovery

The upcoming week is relatively light on the data side but investors will be keen to continue following Fedspeak as uncertainty over the FOMC's policy path rises. Bernanke will be speaking on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. In other G10 economies, normal service on the political commentary front aside, CPI releases are out in the UK, Eurozone and Canada and policymakers will be looking for more clues over the impact of oil on headline and core prices.