06:18 AM EST, 02/12/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Commerzbank in its "European Sunrise" note of Wednesday highlighted:

Markets: United States Treasuries rangebound in the late New York session after a strong three-year auction, weaker in Asia. Asian equities and U.S. futures mixed. Euro trades stronger, yen weaker. Brent sideways below $77/barrel.

Fed: Chair Jerome Powell reiterates that the Federal Reserve is in no hurry to lower rates further, warns that the federal budget is on an unsustainable path. Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams says the policy is still restrictive and well positioned, sees inflation on track to 2% but it will take time until the target is sustainably reached.

U.S.: President Donald Trump mulls integrating FDIC into Treasury to consolidate regulators.

Geopolitics: Trump says U.S. hostage release "could be a big, important part of getting the war over." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warns Hamas that ceasefire will end if hostages aren't released, IDF says it's preparing for "various scenarios."

==EUROPE:

ECB: European Central Bank Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel says the European Union financial sector will face competitive disadvantages if the U.S. adopts a softer line on banking regulation. She cautions policymakers to tackle growth problems, says rate cuts can mitigate economic weakness, but can't fix structural issues (slides).

EU weighs temporary natural gas price cap to counter diverging costs with U.S. (FT).

France: The central bank sees Q1 gross domestic product growth at 0.1%-0.2%, uncertainty rises across sectors.

Germany: Christian Lindner says FDP just misses "a few thousand votes," wants to be finance minister in coalition with CDU and SPD.