Anxiety About The European

The U.S. dollar climbed, world shares fell and German borrowing costs hit record lows on Friday as a deepening Spanish banking crisis, uncertainty about Greece's future in the euro zone and lackluster U.S. data provoked a rush for safe-haven assets. World stocks, as measured by the MSCI index, .MIWD00000PUS dropped 0.85 percent and are now below where they began the year, having relinquished all their first quarter gains which were fuelled by the European Central Bank's creation of more than a trillion euros of three-year money. That rally is now a distant memory as an ugly week for stock markets looked likely to end even uglier. Across the board, riskier assets from commodities such as gold and oil and currencies like the euro and the Australian dollar were all heading for big weekly ...

Asian shares tumbled on Friday and were set for their worst weekly showing since September, amid political turmoil in Greece and signs of growing instability in Spanish banks, with investors adding the latest weak U.S. data to the list of risk factors. Assets across the board, from commodities such as oil and gold to riskier currencies such as the euro and the Australian dollar were all heading for their weekly losses. Financial stocks were hammered after the head of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ.AX) said volatile conditions in global markets have caused the wholesale funding market for Australian banks to freeze again, a worrying echo of the global financial crisis. European shares were also set to fall, with financial spreadbetters predicting that major European markets ...

World stocks and oil prices fell on Thursday on concerns about the health of Spain's banks and the prospect of Greece leaving the euro zone. Adding to pressure on Wall Street stocks was a U.S. government report showing manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic states unexpectedly contracted in May. The data helped lift safe-haven U.S. Treasuries prices, and pushed the 10-year note yield to just 5 basis points from its lowest level in at least 50 years, while gold prices rallied 2.6 percent. Worries about Spanish banks resurfaced after a media report said customers of Bankia (BKIA.MC) had withdrawn more than 1 billion euros from their accounts in the past week. The Spanish government said there had been no such exit of deposits. Shares of the partly nationalized Bankia fell 13.5 percent but ...

U.S. stocks hit a four-month low on Thursday as rising Spanish bond yields increased investor anxiety over that country's banks and another round of weak data undermined hopes for U.S. economic recovery. Growing worries over developments in the euro zone and lackluster economic data pushed the S&P's losing streak to five consecutive days. The index, which closed at a level not seen since mid-January, has now relinquished more than half of its gains from the first quarter. "There is not a lot of interest in the equity market," said Jason Weisberg, managing director at Seaport Securities Corp in New York. "The overhang with Europe is so heavy, people are tired of playing whack-a-mole, and their portfolios are the mole." The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI dropped 156.06 points, or 1.24 ...

The euro slipped along with world stocks on Thursday as deepening turmoil in Greece and Spain kept investors wary of riskier assets, with weak U.S. economic data adding to the cautious mood. Worries about the health of Spain's banks also resurfaced after a report that customers at Bankia (BKIA.MC) had withdrawn more than 1 billion euros from their accounts in the past week, though the Spanish government said there had been no exit of deposits from the lender. The report followed suggestions that customers of Greek banks were moving funds in anticipation of its exit from the euro, adding to anxiety among investors about the lack of a firm plan to deal with the region's worsening crisis. "The whole equities market is being driven by a macro trade based upon contagion fear in Europe, and ...

Gold sank to a 2012 low on Wednesday before paring losses in choppy trade, as traders were torn between hope that France and Germany would work together to keep the Euro zone intact and new signs of stress in the Greek banking sector. Bullion briefly crossed into bear market territory, down 20 percent from its record last September, as intensifying fears a Greek exit from the euro zone would worsen the debt crisis gripped financial markets earlier in the day. Prices later recouped most of their losses following a meeting between new French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at which they pledged to forge a joint approach for an EU summit next month. That eased concerns of a spat that could worsen the euro zone crisis. During the U.S. session, gold prices ...

Oil fell on Friday and posted a second straight weekly loss as pressure from weak industrial growth in China countered news that U.S. consumer confidence hit a four-year high. Brent crude's 6.2 percent slide in the past two weeks was the biggest two-week percentage loss since December 16. U.S. crude fell 8.4 percent the past two weeks, its largest since September 30. Crude prices felt early pressure from data showing China's industrial production in April grew at its slowest pace in nearly three years. The report followed disappointing trade numbers released on Thursday, indicating China's economy is showing vulnerability to a global slowdown. Oil pared losses later on news that U.S. consumer sentiment rose early this month to its highest in more than four years, according to the ...

Oil prices ended mixed in choppy trading on Thursday as weaker-than-expected Chinese trade data, higher OPEC production and evidence of a strengthening U.S. jobs market muddied the oil demand outlook. China, the world's second largest oil consumer after the United States, reported that its exports and imports in April grow at a far slower rate than forecast. Its trade performance that month was also surprisingly weak, and analysts said the government would need to loosen monetary policy to spur expansion or risk missing annual growth targets. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said it pumped 1.62 million barrels more per day, to 31.62 million bpd last month, as Iraq ramped up output and Libya's oil industry recovered. That's above the 30 million bpd target it had set ...

Gold eased on Monday in very thin trade, pressured by weaker crude oil prices and a lack of safe-haven demand as investors digested what elections in Europe will mean for the region's debilitating debt crisis. Bullion was dragged down by oil and the euro's tumble after election results in France and Greece reflected strong anti-austerity sentiment, renewing European sovereign debt fears and anxiety about anemic economic growth and petroleum demand. However, the metal, which largely followed the performance in riskier assets so far this year, stayed lower even though the single currency, oil and equities recovered from early session lows..N Trading volume was very low in U.S. gold futures after a strong run of U.S. economic data and fading hopes of further monetary easing by ...