Above Parity Briefly

(Reuters) - Oil gained on Wednesday as demand-sensitive assets got a boost from talk the IMF may do more to help resolve the European debt crisis, helping to temper worry about the outcome of crucial Greek debt restructuring. Front-month Brent crude was 32 cents higher at $111.85 a barrel by 1214 GMT, after touching an intraday peak of $112.20. U.S. oil gained 46 cents $101.17 a barrel. Brent futures hovered in backwardation, just above parity, as prompt oil was priced comparably to forward futures, illustrating weaker demand at the front of the curve. It dipped briefly again into contango, getting down to -2 cents this morning for the first time in almost six months. Oil was supported by weakness in the dollar .DXY, as oil priced in the U.S. currency becomes more affordable to ...

(Reuters) - Gold traded flat on Monday, moving in tandem with equities and riskier assets, as investors focused on technical resistance and kept fretting about the euro zone debt crisis. Gold rose in early trade, then surrendered those gains after Germany and France warned Greece it will get no more bailout funds until it agrees with creditor banks on a bond swap. The precious metal's moves mirrored the euro and S&P 500 U.S. stock index, which also rose early and then gave up gains to trade nearly unchanged. Gold faces technical resistance at its 200-day moving average at $1,633 an ounce, after a late December sell-off that briefly sent it into a bear market, analysts said. "There is so much bearishness in the market that gold prices would be much lower if it weren't for the Eurozone ...

(Reuters) - The euro wallowed near 11-month lows against the dollar on Wednesday and crept close to an option barrier whose break could rapidly speed up its decline, with an Italian bond sale coming into focus later in the day. After the Federal Reserve refrained as expected from boosting its easing program at a meeting on Tuesday, euro bears felt free to end weeks of deadlock and pummeled the currency to as low as $1.3009, a level not seen since mid-January. Piling more pressure on the embattled currency, German leader Angela Merkel rejected any suggestion of raising the funding limit of Europe's future bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, sources said. A spike in Italian bond yields above 7 percent for the first time in two weeks also soured the mood. In Asia, the euro ...

(Reuters) - The euro got off to a rocky start on Monday, with its weakness gathering pace after a series of political setbacks in Europe over the weekend prompted a flight to safety. The euro lost about 1 percent on the day to $1.3664 and fell 0.8 percent to 105.06 yen as investors reacted badly to an unproductive European Union meeting in Poland. A cancellation of a visit by Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to the United States to chair an emergency meeting and a regional election defeat for Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel added fuel to an already tense euro. "What happens this week? The euro is going to come under pressure - as it already has this morning," said Rob Ryan, FX strategist at BNP Paribas in Singapore. Policymakers from the European Union (EU) and the ...

Italian authorities will meet on Tuesday to discuss growing market turmoil that has sent borrowing costs spiraling to dangerous levels and threatened to drag Italy into full-scale crisis. Officials said Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti would chair the Financial Stability Committee -- made up of representatives from the economy ministry, the Bank of Italy, market regulator Consob and insurance authority ISVAP. Treasury director general Vittorio Grilli will attend via conference call and Bank of Italy deputy Fabrizio Saccomanni will also be present. A brief statement may be released after the meeting, expected at around 4.30 p.m (1430 GMT). Earlier on Tuesday, President Giorgio Napolitano met Bank of Italy Governor Mario Draghi for the second time since last Thursday. The yield spread on ...

The Week Ahead Highlights ■Egypt turmoil sparks safe haven buying ■A chilly start for the UK ■Spanish steps to sorting out the Caja mess ■RBA likely to hold on rates, Flood tax spurs debate ■Minimal impact from Japanese sovereign debt downgrade ■Key data and events to watch next week Egypt turmoil sparks safe haven buying Political protests in Cairo and elsewhere in Egypt escalated into the end of the week, as the government called in the army to assist police and imposed a nationwide curfew. The protesters are demanding Pres. Mubarak step down and withdraw from elections in the autumn and guarantee free and fair elections. So far, Mubarak has responded in his standard fashion, sending in riot police with truncheons. Inspired by events in Tunisia, ...

Previous session overview EURUSD falls slightly after a better-than-expected consumer confidence index reading. Pair falls from USD1.3632 just before data, and dips briefly below USD1.36 level again. Data gives investors further confidence that US economy is on right track. That sentiment raises expectations that US could possibly see inflation tick up by end of year and interest rate hikes if not this year, maybe next year. EURUSD down slightly on day, at USD1.3620 from USD1.3638 late Mon. U.K. Business Secretary Vince Cable played down the risk that the economy could fall back into recession, and said that the government will continue to develop longer-term economic plans, despite figures earlier Tuesday that showed gross domestic product unexpectedly shrank in the finals months of ...

(Reuters) - Canada's dollar hit its highest in more than 30 months on Friday, boosted by rallying commodities, to close out the year above parity with the U.S. currency on scant New Year's Eve trading volumes. The Canadian dollar reached as high as C$0.9925 to the U.S. dollar, or $1.0076, a peak last touched in May 2008, after briefly poking through a technical support level. Analysts noted the move to break C$0.9931 to the U.S. dollar came under very thin trading conditions on the last day of a year that included the Bank of Canada's first rate hikes following the financial crisis, euro zone debt troubles, rising commodity prices, and the U.S. Federal Reserve's stimulus plans. The gains were also made as the U.S. dollar fell broadly as investors closed their books on 2010. The ...

Well… I’ve spent a lot of time this week talking about the rise in Treasury yields… Apparently the rise in yields wasn’t confined to Treasuries, as municipal bonds are getting whacked too… I saw that my friend and former colleague, David Galland, had this to say about the problems with the municipal bonds… “The problem is state debt. New York, California and Illinois look more like Greece to their bondholders every day.” Hmmm, isn’t that the stuff I was telling you a year ago? But it’s taken a year for the municipal bondholders to realize it? Well, any old way, the rise in Treasury yields took a pause for the cause yesterday, gaining back some ground with the 10-year yield falling to 3.20% from 3.23%… Maybe the FOMC was in doing their dirty work with quantitative easing… And then maybe, ...