Attempts To Tackle Yen

The euro fell on Tuesday and was vulnerable to more losses as political uncertainty in Greece and a change of French president threatened to derail the austerity plans at the heart of efforts to tackle the euro zone debt crisis. Greece's two main pro-bailout parties failed to win a majority in weekend elections and attempts to form a coalition government were not expected to succeed, leaving questions over the country's ability to avert bankruptcy and stay in the euro. Meanwhile, Socialist French president-elect Francois Hollande has advocated an approach to tackling the debt crisis centered more on growth, which may create tensions with Germany's insistence on fiscal austerity. The euro was down 0.3 percent at $1.3027, off the previous day's three-month low of $1.2955 and hovering just ...

The euro rose against the U.S. dollar on Friday trading, yet probably heading for a weekly decline, on expectations U.S. jobs report will show rise in non-farm payrolls, thereby enhancing risk taking. The main highlight of the day will be the awaited non-farm payrolls report from the U.S. due at 13:30 GMT. The change in non-farm payrolls is predicted to retreat to 140,000 in January from 200,000 in December, while unemployment will linger at 8.5%. However, the euro will probably record a weekly drop as Athens is struggling to reach a debt-swap deal, raising concerns the debt-mired nations may face default as early as in March when 14.5 billion euros of debt matures. Josef Ackermann, chairman of a banking group in negotiations with Greece, said on Thursday a deal with private sector ...

Talk of a Greek exit from the EMU may have gone overboard. The new Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos has promised to carry out all of Greece's obligations to receive European bailout funds. This may help to restore fragile investor confidence in the EUR. Economic News EUR - Greek Exit from EMU Not Likely The present coalition in Greece has confirmed its intention to implement the most recent EUR 130 Bn European bailout for the country. This will be done prior to new elections. This is the type of promise investors need to help add stability to the EUR. From all the market events that have occurred over the past week, two important developments have occurred; Greece could default on its bonds and the indebted country could theoretically leave the EMU. However, with the new ...

(Reuters) - The euro stood firm early in Asia on Monday after comments from a European Central Bank official kept alive prospects for the ECB to hike rates before the Fed, while the Aussie was resilient in the face of China's latest move to tackle inflation. The common currency last traded near $1.3700, having briefly risen to around $1.3727, after ECB Executive Board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi said on Friday the bank stood ready to raise rates as needed to counter inflationary pressures and expectations. "The comments again highlighted that ECB officials are getting antsy about price pressures despite some notable concerns about the health of EU periphery nation's economic performances," said David Watt, strategist at RBC Dominion Securities. "Meantime, the Fed continues its Treasury ...

The British pound advanced against majors after the release of better-than-expected annual retail sales readings, while monthly readings matched forecasts. Retail sales excluding auto fuel rose 1.8% annually from expectations of 1.4% while the monthly reading matched forecasts of 0.3%. Concerning the royal pair, it managed to pare some of the losses incurred over the past two days where it is currently doing attempts to remain above 1.5580 levels. The pair is trading at 1.5595 while it recorded a high of 1.5613 and a low of 1.5538. The trading range for today is among the major support at 1.5385 and the major resistance at 1.5810. Other data from Europe came mixed as euro zone PMI manufacturing showed improvement in December while the services gauge fell. Therefore, the news did not ...