UKRAINE: Trump Softens Tone Ahead Of Zelenskyy Meeting

A US District Judge blocked a Trump administration freeze on federal spending, ordered by the White House Office of Management and Budget, minutes before it was set to go into effect yesterday. The block will expire Feb 3 at 17:00 ET 22:00 GMT.

• The order, which covers all government spending except direct payments to individuals, such as Social Security, and Medicare, is widely seen as the most far-reaching of Trump’s executive actions and part of a broader attempt to recalibrate potentially trillions of dollars of federal government spending. The coming week will test to what extent Trump can realise the bulk of his agenda via executive action.
• White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, “[if government agencies] feel that programs are necessary and in line with the president's agenda, then [OMB] will review those policies.”
• In response, Senate Democrats accused the Trump administration of “wanting to seize control of everything,” (Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and to “cut, cut, cut, cut – to give one thing: tax breaks to the very wealthy,” (Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
• The Democrat counteroffensive is likely to include a concerted effort to hold up Trump’s Cabinet nominees, particularly OMB Director Russell Vought – a central figure in ‘Project 2025' – who Democrats allege is seeking to coopt spending authority from Congress.
• Democrat action may also include delaying Trump nominees who may have otherwise received swift confirmation, like Commerce Secretary nominee, Howard Lutnick, who has his Senate Commerce Committee nomination hearing today. 

EURIBOR FIX - EMMI/Bloomberg

• 1W 2.85600 -2.6
• 1M 2.72500 -1.9
• 3M 2.61200 -0.3
• 6M 2.59800 0.7
• 12M 2.53500 0.1

• As seen in recent auctions of the 0.875% Jul-33 Green Gilt, the lowest accepted price (LAP) is below the pre-auction mid-price.
• The price of the gilt fell to the LAP of 74.744 following the auction result but has moved but up to the average price of 74.873 at the time of writing.
• Similar move lower and then above the pre-auction price seen in gilt futures (but it's only been a 9 tick range post-bidding window so minor moves).