EURO SELLOFF AHEAD OF GREENSPAN IN US HOURS
Traders licked their wounds after stop-loss euro dollar sell orders wereliquidated earlier in the day and continued to liquidate long euro positionsahead of testimony by Alan Greenspan Thursday. "We saw the pessimismabout the U.S. economy start in early December and continue into January,and this was underscored by the surprise rate cut," said John McCarthy,director of Foreign Exchange at ING Barings in New York. McCarthycontinued, "Now it has run its course and the gloom and doom is alreadypriced into the euro level."

MARKET PARTICIPANTS HOPE FOR SIGNAL FROM GREENSPAN
Market participants hope Greenspan, in his testimony to the Senate BudgetCommittee, will offer some hints of what the Fed may have in store forfinancial markets after the FOMC meeting January 30-31. Market participantsare looking for a cut of 25 to 50 basis points in the Federal Funds rate.Greenspan has not made a public policy statement since Dec. 5 when hesignaled, in a speech to America's Community Bankers, that the Fed wasabout to shift its focus from fighting inflation to heading off an economic downturn, after having raised rates 175basis points between June 1999 and May 2000. On January 3, the Fed cutthe fed funds rate half a point.