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The JPY and USD have firmed in overnight Asian trade, with risk aversion slightly heightened, and with Asian stocks posting losses. EUR/USD is down at 1.3865 from a North American close Monday around 1.3900, while EUR/JPY is down at 136.10 from around 136.95. Asian market seems to have picked up on comments made by the IMF yesterday, that lack of a co-0rdinated and aggressive clean up plan for euro zone banks could hamper economic recovery in the 16 countries that share the euro. The Congressional Oversight panel meanwhile says that bank stress tests should be repeated if the US unemployment rate rises beyond levels assumed by regulators in the recent round of examination. The panel also says that the stress tests should also be repeated periodically as long as banks continue to hold “appreciable amounts” of toxic assets. I just noticed some rather disconcerting comments made recently by Robert J Shiller (he of home-price indexes fame.) The Finance professor at Yale says US house prices are in the midst of a decline that may last for years. Ughh. S&P have released a report entitled “Asia-Pacific Sovereign Report Card; Amid Encouraging Signs, A Bumpy Road Lies Ahead.” The report says the worst of the economic dislocation in Asia Pacific appears to be over, if recent indicators are to be beleived, but fiscal deterioration resulting from stimulus and banking sector support measures will continue to put pressure on a number of sovereign ratings in the medium-term.