Assets Got A Boost

The Week Ahead Highlights Europe steps closer to the cliff edge Can the USD extend its rally? Bank of Japan may extend maturity of its bond buys Pricing in more QE from the Bank of England Europe steps closer to the cliff edge It was a pivotal week for the Eurozone after Greece announced that it was heading back to the polls after the top three parities failed to form a coalition government. So now Greece is leaderless, there is a caretaker government in place but it won't be able to enforce the austerity required to get the next tranche of bailout funds necessary for Greece to avoid running out of money in July. So as time runs out for Greece the European authorities have been clear: the upcoming election is a referendum on euro-membership. Either vote for pro bailout ...

The euro fell to a four-month low against the dollar on Wednesday and was poised for more losses after Greece announced it would hold new elections, boosting the risk the country could exit the euro. The prospect of prolonged political instability and worries about the knock-on effects of a Greek euro exit for struggling economies like Spain and Italy caused investors to flee the euro and seek the safety of the dollar and the yen. The euro also hit a three-month low against the yen, while the dollar rose to its highest in four months against a basket of currencies. "The uncertainty around the political situation in Greece continues to undermine risk appetite, which is affecting a range of currencies," said Paul Robson, currency strategist at RBS. "There is uncertainty around the ...

What’s new: Forex: Euro, risk currencies tumble on worries over Greece Global Markets: Stock markets plummet on political turmoil in Greece Greece: Greece set for new elections as President fails to forge coalition Japan: BOJ may lower interest paid at cash held with central bank; USD/JPY United States: CPI as expected at 2.3% y/y, FOMC minutes due today United Kingdom: BoE Quarterly inflation report scheduled for 11:30 CET Forex rates in Asia and Indices: Low High Change EUR/USD 1.2683 1.2738 -0.26 % USD/CHF 0.943 0.9471 -0.26 % GBP/USD 1.5949 1.5999 -0.19 % USD/JPY 80.16 80.45 -0.28 % EUR/CHF 1.2010 1.20127 0.00 % EUR/JPY 101.91 102.38 -0.00 % Dow Jones ...

Sunrise Market Commentary - Fixed Income: Global core bonds profit from euro debt crisis - Concerns about Greece and Spain underpinned the ongoing rally of global core bonds. The German 10-year yield fell below 1.50%. Intra-EMU yield spreads versus Germany widened substantially. Today, the eco calendar is enticing. If no euro debt crisis news acts as a circuit breaker, the eco data may for once drive the price action. - Currencies: Speculation on Grexit continues to hammer the euro. - At the start of the new trading week, the Greek crisis remained the key factor for currency trading. With no visibility on the outcome of the EMU crisis, the easiest way for the euro is south. EUR/USD set a new correction low. EUR/GBP dropped below the 0.8000. This morning, strong German ...

Base metal markets slid on Tuesday, with copper prices in New York notching their biggest fall in a month, as fears that Greece's hard-fought bailout deal could unravel hit the euro and raised concerns about demand for industrial metals. European jitters roiled broader markets too, with gold shedding almost 2 percent and crude oil futures dropping almost 1 percent. U.S. stocks hit two-month lows and the euro fell for a seventh straight session. The dollar rose and U.S. Treasuries rallied on safe-haven buying. Funds and institutional investors led selling in metals markets, cutting exposure to assets considered risky and seeking to raise cash, traders said. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) ended at $8,095 a tonne, down almost 1 percent from Friday's close of $8,175 a ...

(Reuters) - Stocks and the euro edged higher on Thursday, boosted by solid home sales data, but disappointing labor market figures and simmering worries over the euro zone kept gains in check. Contracts to purchase previously owned homes increased solidly to a near two-year high in March, suggesting the spring selling season got off to a firmer start and offering hopes of a pick-up in housing. Stocks rose shortly after the data, with the euro advancing against the dollar despite choppy trading early in the New York session. "In any case, progress on the housing market is going to be slow and gradual," said ING's Teunis Brosens. "The pick-up in sales over the past few months appears to be at least partly driven by all-cash buyers." The pending home sales data is an important clue to ...

(Reuters) - Brent crude oil gained on Wednesday, with investors expecting that the U.S. Federal Reserve may give hints of more monetary easing, supporting demand sensitive assets. "The big focus remains on the U.S. Federal bank meeting today," says Oliver Jakob of consultancy Petromatrix. Brent crude rose 71 cents to $118.87 a barrel by 7:00 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT), while U.S. crude was up 56 cents at $104.11. A third round of monetary stimulus or quantitative easing, also called QE3, should boost liquidity in markets and lift appetite for riskier assets such as oil. "If there are hints at more quantitative easing, oil prices will shoot up again, as they are well off their highs," Michael Hewson, analyst at CMC Markets. However, he said investors may be disappointed as he thought ...

The dollar slipped against the euro on Tuesday after data suggesting U.S. home prices may be stabilizing spurred investors to seek higher returns beyond U.S. borders. Europe's common currency also got a boost after the Netherlands saw solid demand at a debt auction a day after a budget dispute toppled the government. But buyers failed to push the euro out of the broad $1.30-$1.35 range that has prevailed for most of the year. SSome traders said Europe's ongoing debt crisis would cap gains. Late in New York trading, the euro was at $1.3183, up 0.2 percent, after earlier rising as high as $1.3218. Traders said a pair of U.S. housing market reports stirred hope that a drawn-out decline in home prices may be nearing its end. The closely watched S&P/Case-Shiller index showed prices rose ...

Dutch Fears Trump French Elections If you looked at the headlines from the weekend you may have thought that risk was poised to rally today. The first round of the French Presidential election was a tighter race than expected. Socialist Hollande won 27.1% of the vote while Sarkozy was not that far behind with 26.7%. The French left, which has called for ECB rate cuts and a re-negotiation of the EU's Fiscal Pact, did less well than expected, which should have calmed markets this morning. However, weak economic data out of the currency bloc combined with fears about the Dutch triple A credit rating has caused risk aversion to grip the markets at the start of this week. Dutch budget wrangling hurts risk sentiment The Netherlands has overtaken France as the largest political risk this week ...