As It Decreases Their Appeal

(Reuters) - European shares traded near eight-month highs on Thursday as a brighter global economic outlook fuelled investor risk appetite, underpinning the dollar and reducing the appeal of safe-haven government debt. Improving U.S. economic data and a signal from the Federal Reserve that it was not planning further monetary easing measures for now has sparked a big selloff in U.S. government debt, lifted the greenback against a basket of currencies and eased prices of commodities traded in dollars. "Investor sentiment has completely changed. In the past, people were expecting (U.S.) growth of around 1.5 percent but now they say growth could top three percent," said Hiroshi Yokotani, director of fixed income at Alliance Bernstein. World equities markets shared in the gains on Wednesday ...

Fundamental News: Today's highlight; Nonfarm Payrolls + Unemployment Rate (U.S, 13:30 GMT) Unemployment Rate (CAD, 12:00 GMT) Retail Sales (MoM) (EUR, 10:00 GMT) New unemployment claims in the U.S. fell to a lower level than most experts had expected, according to figures released Thursday by the Labor Department. Initial claims for unemployment came in at a seasonally adjusted level of 367,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 379,000. U.S. labor productivity increased by slightly less than expected in the fourth quarter of 2011. According to statistics released Thursday by the Labor Department, worker productivity increased by 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter compared to a revised 1.9 percent increase in the third quarter. On the other hand, Federal Reserve ...

Most significant on today's calendar will be the US publication of its Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP) data. Should today's news foreshadow a modest growth in the largest economy's employment sector, an assessment that seems less likely from data released just days ago, there is a possibility that more investment will get pushed towards the higher yielding abilities of the European currencies as investors seek to diversify their portfolios. Economic News USD - USD Consolidating ahead of NFP Release The EUR/USD was seen moving towards 1.4270 late yesterday as investors attempt to speculate on market direction ahead of today's highly anticipated Non-Farm Payroll release. A weaker-than-forecast uptick in US private sector employment Wednesday added to risk sensitivity for many investors, leading ...