Australia Rba Confounded

(Reuters) - The euro was underpinned on Tuesday by hopes a way would be found to push through a second bailout deal for Greece, though fresh signs of exposure to Europe's economic troubles among leading banks rekindled investor unease, sending shares lower. U.S. stock index futures pointed to the unresolved Greek deal weighing on Wall Street at the open, ahead of Senate testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that may grab the spotlight at 1500 GMT (10 a.m. EST) after last week's strong jobs data. Greece's prime minister and leaders of its main political parties are set to resume talks later Tuesday on new austerity measures demanded by the EU in return for another bailout. The deal needs to be approved by February 15 if the money is to be available in time to meet a March ...

The Week Ahead Highlights * EU competitiveness pact may disappoint * Fallout from Japanese earthquake * Spain gets a wakeup call * Central banks expected to maintain policy rates * A mixed picture in China, but further tightening is still needed * Key data and events to watch next week EU competitiveness pact may disappoint Without the final details in hand as of late Friday afternoon, we can't be sure of the ultimate reaction, but price moves ahead of the release of the EU pact suggest markets are going to be underwhelmed. The draft of the pact suggested that no concrete rules will be established and that individual governments will operate on a 'best efforts' basis to rein in debts and deficits and stimulate growth. The only enforcement mechanism will be ...