Close To Parity Against

(Reuters) - The euro hovered just above its 22-month low against the dollar on Thursday and remained vulnerable to further declines as the prospect of a Greek exit from the euro zone kept investors on tenterhooks. The euro eased 0.1 percent to $1.2575. It fell to about $1.2545 the previous day, its lowest level since July 2010. That level should provide initial support, followed by $1.2500. The euro drew little comfort from an informal summit of European Union leaders that shed no new light on how the euro zone nations intend to tackle its debt crisis, including the threat of Greece's exit from euro. "It's still hard to see what the endgame will be like," said a trader at a Japanese bank in Tokyo. European Union leaders urged Greece to stay the course on austerity and complete the ...

Yen gains after BOJ stands pat; World Bank cuts China outlook, April lending looks weak; EUR falls on Papademos "grexit" mention Economic Data (JP) BANK OF JAPAN (BOJ) LEAVES TARGET RATE RANGE UNCHANGED BETWEEN 0.0% TO 0.10% (AS EXPECTED); Keeps economic assessment unchanged; Maintains asset purchase fund at ¥70T (JP) JAPAN APR MERCHANDISE TRADE BALANCE TOTAL: -¥520B V -¥471BE; ADJUSTED: -¥480B V -¥617BE (US) NORTH AMERICA SEMI EQUIPMENT INDUSTRY APR SALES BOOK TO BILL RATIO: 1.10 V 1.13 PRIOR (3RD CONSECUTIVE MONTH ABOVE PARITY, 1st decline in 7 months) (AU) AUSTRALIA APR DEWR INTERNET SKILLED VACANCIES M/M: -0.8% V -0.5% PRIOR (4-month low) (AU) AUSTRALIA MAR WESTPAC LEADING INDEX M/M: 0.4% V 0.0% PRIOR (AU) AUSTRALIA MAR CONFERENCE BOARD LEADING INDEX M/M: +0.2% V 0.0% PRIOR (SG) ...

Fundamental Analysis EUR "We expect euro-region inflation to normalize in 2013" - Michael Schubert, an economist at Commerzbank AG Inflation in the seventeen nation bloc eased to 2.6 per cent in March from 2.7 per cent the previous month, said the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg on Wednesday. USD "Uncertainty about Greece and the effects a potential exit out of the euro would have on Europe, the global economy and the financial system in general is driving investors out of stocks into safe havens" - Markus Huber, head of German sales trading at ETX Capital The Standard & Poor's 500 lost 0.44%, or 5.86 points, to 1,324.80. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined by 0.26%, or 33.45 points, to 12,598.55. GBP Unemployment figures are a "welcome step in the right ...

Dukascopy Fundamental Analysis EUR Investors battered European stocks, dumped the bonds of Spain and Italy, and bid the euro down against the dollar Monday after the collapse of weekend coalition talks in Greece edged that country closer to an exit from the euro zone. USD Retail sales in the U.S. rose in April at the slowest pace of the year, showing unseasonably mild weather and pre-Easter shopping may have pulled consumers to stores the prior month. GBP Governor Mervyn King looks set to leave the door open to more support for the struggling economy when he presents the Bank of England's new economic outlook on Wednesday, which is likely to show a tricky mix of lower growth and higher inflation ahead. CHF Swiss stocks lost ground on Monday on concern Greece will exit the Eurozone. ...

Forex News and Events: The S&P GSCI Index reversed its 2011 gains in the last six consecutive trading sessions. As a matter of fact, the index tracking 24 commodities broke down 7.6% from a high of 684.15 on April 30th to a more than four-month low low of 634.25 during yesterday’s trade session. This downturn in commodity prices can be explained on the one hand by headlines from the Euro area, as markets seem to be pricing in a second round of elections in Greece as well as a probable EU exit. On the other hand, the marked slowdown of commodity-intensive economies such as China -see Newsletter May 14- pushed prices lower in light of atrophied demand and lower infrastructure investments. From the foreign exchange perspective, the Australian dollar having experienced a 34% appreciation ...

The euro hovered near a 3-1/2-month low on Friday as Greek political parties made efforts to form a coalition government, and looked fragile as risk sentiment struggled on weak Chinese data and JPMorgan's shock trading losses. The common currency was steady at $1.2936 after earlier hitting a trough of $1.2905, its lowest level since January 23. Investors were heavily focused on Greece, where inconclusive election results on Sunday threw the country into political disarray and raised the risk of it exiting the euro zone. The euro climbed to a session high of $1.2956 as Greek conservative leader Antonis Samaras said there were still hopes a government could be formed, but came further pressure when the leader of the moderate Democratic Left said the country was heading for a repeat poll. ...

Forex Morning Briefing : Greece retains focus; Aussie continues to weaken What’s new: Asia: Asian and US equities remain in negative territory Greece: Still unable to form a coalition government Spain: Government expected to unveil banks’ plans on Friday Forex: AUD/USD approaching parity, fresh 2012 lows Forex: JPY still attracting support as carry trades unwind Rates in Asia and Indices: EUR/USD 1.2965 1.3008 -0.15 % USD/CHF 0.9234 0.9263 -0.15 % GBP/USD 1.6129 1.6163 -0.13 % USD/JPY 79.72 79.94 0.10 % EUR/CHF 1.2010 1.2013 0.00 % EUR/JPY 103.4 103.94 0.27 % Dow Jones 12810.39 13000.73 -0.58 % Nasdaq 2587.53 ...

The markets have managed to shrug off some fairly dismal services sector PMI data from the Eurozone, as the US non-farm payrolls data comes into focus. Arguably the most important economic data release of the month, the markets expect 160k but our prop model suggests a slightly weaker reading of 136k. Labour market data in April was fairly mixed but the overall bias was to the downside with the 4-week moving average of initial jobless claims rising more than20k over the month. Payrolls reports have the power to set the tone for how markets, and the dollar in particular, trade for the rest of the month. The weaker March NFP report stopped the rally in USDJPY in its tracks, for example. So what can we expect from today's report? Essentially the magic number is 200k – this is the amount of ...

Fundamental Analysis EUR Spain's credit rating was lowered by Standard & Poor's for a second time in 2012 on enduring worries the nation will have to apply additional fiscal backing to lenders as the economy shrinks. S&P cut its long term grade for Spain from A to BBB+ adding a negative outlook. Country's short term rating was lowered from A-1 to A-2, S&P agency reported on Thursday. USD Crude oil price declined from almost 4-week high in New York trade after S&P ratings agency cut Spain's sovereign credit rating, boosting concerns that further recession in Europe may halt demand for crude. Oil to be delivered in June lost USD 0.61, reaching USD 103.94 a barrel. June Brent oil gave up USD 0.49 and traded at USD 119.43 a barrel. GBP Today the Great Britain Pound extended its gains ...