Approval Of The Greek Austerity

Oil prices slipped below $107 a barrel on Friday and hit a 2012 low as investors fought shy of riskier, growth-oriented assets on fears that Greece would leave the euro, and after a downgrade of 16 Spanish banks by Moody's added to the contagion gloom. Brent crude was down 51 cents to $106.98 a barrel by 1122 GMT after earlier slipping to its lowest level for the year at $106.40. U.S. crude was up 16 cents to $92.72. "The driving factor is still what is going on in Europe with the downgrades of the Spanish banks and very negative sentiment towards risk investments," said Eugen Weinberg, an analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt. "It's not surprising to see further falls in Brent today." The euro fell to fresh four-month lows as the dollar strengthened .DXY, putting commodities priced in ...

Brent crude slipped below $107 per barrel on Friday to its lowest in 2012 as a worsening euro zone crisis and weak U.S. economic data raised fears of a global slowdown that could dent oil demand. Worries about the euro zone, already roiled by Greek political chaos, mounted as Spain slipped into a recession, pushing the euro to a four-month low while sluggish data out of the United States sent worrisome signs about a still-fragile recovery at the world's largest economy and top oil consumer. Brent crude was down 64 cents to $106.85 by 2:47 a.m. EDT after slipping to its lowest level for the year at $106.40. Front-month Brent is on track to post its largest three-week fall since May 2011. U.S. crude was down 58 cents to $91.98, heading for its largest three-week fall since August 2011. " ...

Brent crude held steady above $107 per barrel on Friday, but prices were headed for a third straight weekly drop as a worsening euro zone crisis and weak U.S. economic data raised fears of a global slowdown that could dent oil demand. Worries about the euro zone, already roiled by a Greek political chaos, mounted as Spain slipped into a recession, while sluggish data out of the United States sent worrisome signs about a still-fragile recovery at the world's largest economy and top oil consumer. Brent crude edged up 7 cents to $107.56 a barrel by 11:34 p.m. EDT after slipping to as low as $106.62. Front-month Brent is on track to post its largest three-week fall since May 2011 after settling at the lowest level in 2012 on Thursday. U.S. crude inched up 3 cents to $92.59, but is still ...

Stocks rebounded from session lows on Wednesday as optimism grew that Greece was likely to get a bailout payment approved. Stocks had tumbled more than 1 percent earlier in the session, with the S&P 500 hitting a two-month low over concerns about political uncertainty in Greece and Spain's weak banks. The yield on the 10-year Spanish bond climbed over 6 percent, seen as a troublesome level among investors, after Spain came up with a plan to demand banks set aside another 35 billion euros ($45 billion) against loans to the ailing building sector. Huge bank losses have raised fears that the country may need an international bailout. But worries about the region eased as sources said the board of the euro zone's EFSF fund was more likely than not to approve the payment of 5.2 billion euros ...

Forex News and Events: A wave of anti-austerity election results has shifted the market’s attention away from the weak US payroll reports and has sent traders in search of safe-havens. France Socialist leader, Francois Hollande defeated President Sarkozy. Frances's new socialist President Hollande has expressed his distaste for the EU fiscal treaty and vowed to hold back France's vote until additional growth measures are included. However, we suspect Hollande will be more realistic with his insistence on changes in the fiscal pact by balancing demands with practical expectations of the bond market. Moving forward, we don’t expect the new president to damage their cost of capital and are already hear advisors tone down Hollande rhetoric. On the other hand the situation in Greece is ...

Worries dominates investor`s trades on Monday after the results of French and Greek elections had raised concerns the euro zone would not be able to come out of the debt crisis. The main focus in the market has turned from grim fundamentals released recently to the political race in France and Greece as investors know that the winners of the contest would lead their economies to a new critical phase after the efforts done by European officials to contain the debt crisis. Now, all the efforts done by European officials, starting from bailing out Greece, expanding the European permanent rescue fund and liquidity pumping from the ECB, could evaporate with new leaders refusing sharp austerity measures. Hollande, who got 52% of the votes versus 48% for Sarkozy, said after his wining in the ...

Risk is collapsing as anti-austerity political parties take hold in Europe. Former French PM Sarkozy and mainstream pro-European parties in Greece have felt the force of the anti-austerity backlash that is seeping through Europe. Fancois Hollande is the leader of the French Solcialist party and the new French Prime Minister after the final round of French elections over the weekend put the socialist party into the top job for the first time since 1988. Investors acutely aware of the new leader's distain for austerity measures and some elements of the EU's new fiscal treaty. Mr Hollande has vowed not to ratify the new EU treaty unless new growth promoting measures are added, which is going to significantly draw-out the process of fiscal integration, if not stop it altogether. In Athens, ...

Major European PMI Manufacturing data disappoints; Weak German jobs data blamed on Easter holiday Economic Data (EU) ECB: €606M borrowed in overnight loan facility v €619M prior; €789.3B parked in deposit facility v €794.0B prior (Monday) (IN) India Apr Markit Manufacturing PMI: 54.9 v 54.7 prior (DE) Germany Mar ILO Employment (Seasonally Adj): 41.459 v 41.406M prior; Unemployment Rate: 5.6% v 5.6% prior (SE) Sweden Apr Swedbank PMI Survey: 50.2 v 50.5e (PL) Poland Apr Manufacturing PMI: 49.2 v 49.5e (HU) Hungary Mar Producer Prices M/M: +0.2% v -1.3% prior; Y/Y: 6.4% v 6.7%e (NO) Norway Apr PMI: 53.7 v 57.0e (TR) Turkey Apr Manufacturing PMI: 52.3 v 49.6 prior (ES) Spain Apr Manufacturing PMI: 43.5 v 43.6e (three-year low) (TH) Thailand Central Bank leaves Benchmark Interest Rate ...

Amidst the efforts done by euro area officials to resolve debt crisis, following the approval Greece's second bailout, they will gather this week in Copenhagen to discuss the possibility of boosting the power of the European rescue fund to prevent the spread of debt contagion to the region's large economies, more specifically Italy and Spain, and other euro region’s troubled periphery nations. The two-day meeting on March 30-31 will decide whether there will be an agreement over boosting the size of the fund to 750 billion euros, through combining the remaining of the EFSF (250 billion euros) and the ESM (500 billion euros), noting that there is a strong rejection from Germany and Finland to the expansion as they see the current size is enough to combat debt crisis. The European ...