Benefited More Than The Pound Credit

Fundamental Analysis EUR "The cost of postponing a solution is extremely high for Europe, but especially for the future of the euro" - Giovanni Bossi, chief executive officer of Banca Ifis SpA Talks on Greek debt swap resumed on Thursday as European finance ministers pressure private bondholders to take bigger losses on their Greek holdings. USD "Improving economic momentum and diminished angst surrounding the financial crisis has encouraged businesses to take on more risk" - Richard DeKaser, deputy chief economist at Parthenon Group Inc. The number of Americans claiming for unemployment benefits rose to 377 thousand in the week ended January 21 from 356 thousand the week before, said the Department of Labor on Thursday. GBP "Given the key role of consumer spending, the CBI survey ...

Fundamental Analysis EUR "The biggest challenge is to respond to the crisis in an adequate manner" - Christine Lagarde, the IMF Managing Director The International Monetary Fund is aiming to increase its lending capacity by 500 billion dollars to protect economies from the escalating euro zone debt crisis. GBP "Unemployment could become one of the main economic and political issues this year" - Peter Dixon, an economist at Commerzbank AG The number of people claiming unemployment benefits rose by 1.2 thousand to 1.6 million in December and the unemployment rate increased to 8.4 per cent, the highest rate in 16 years, said the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday. USD "Builders are seeing greater interest among potential buyers as employment and consumer confidence slowly ...

Currencies fluctuated heavily during the Asian and European sessions affected by the downbeat gross domestic product from China, the rising inflation in the United Kingdom and the slump in confidence seen in the euro area and Germany, where the U.S. dollar benefited the most against other major currencies, especially against the euro and the sterling pound. China released the gross domestic product for the third quarter, where over quarterly basis, the Chinese economy grew 2.3% at a slower pace than 2.4% a quarter earlier, while over annual basis, the economy grew 9.1% slower than the previous 9.5% and also below the expected expansion, which added more fears and jitters to the market that China could also follow the rest of major economies and could slow further in the coming period. ...

FX Briefing Highlights * Fed decision to purchase Treasury bonds weighs on dollar * BoE refrains from expanding asset purchase facility * ECB gradually becoming more optimistic, policy normalisation to proceed Fed to Buy Treasury Bonds The Fed's decision to purchase $600bn in Treasury bonds by the middle of 2011 triggered a surge in demand for riskier assets. Against this backdrop, not only did equity and commodity markets post hefty gains, but most major non-US currencies rose significantly too, frequently breaking out above the trading ranges of the last few weeks. EUR-USD was no exception; during the course of the week, the euro gained almost 2% to 1.42. The pound sterling's rise was far more moderate than that of the euro. This was because, prior to the Monetary Policy ...

(Reuters) - The euro fell to its lowest in more than four years against the dollar on Wednesday as a sell-off in the single currency gathered pace after Germany's move to ban naked short-selling of some securities rattled investors. Germany on Tuesday announced a ban that covered some high-risk bets involving euro-denominated government bonds, credit default swaps based on those bonds, and shares in Germany's 10 top financial institutions. Analysts said that Germany's regulation would do little to help fix Europe's debt crisis, and that the ban has left foreign exchange as the only market where investors fell free to bet against European assets. "Stocks and CDS trading are now regulated. The government bond market is supported by the European Central Bank's buying. So investors have no ...

The EUR advanced on the U.S dollar Wednesday, but failed to reach the $1.50 mark as investors zeroed in on a Fed official's comment suggesting key interest rates could remain low until 2012. Federal Reserve officials were quoted saying that the Fed could keep short-term fed funds rates at near-zero until early 2012. The ultra-low rates weigh on the U.S dollar, as investors use the buck to fund investments in higher-yielding assets. Economic News USD - Dollar Retreats after 3 Week's Rally The U.S dollar advanced against the EUR Thursday on speculation U.S. investors are bringing back overseas funds toward year-end and traders cut bets the greenback will weaken. The U.S. currency also gained on speculation traders trimmed short positions after it failed to weaken beyond $1.50 per euro, ...