Compound Growth Rate

(Reuters) - Gold rose on Thursday, after three days of losses, although the drag of the euro near two-year lows tempered the bullion price and eclipsed data that showed another rise in central bank purchases of the metal last month. The euro edged higher, having hit a near two-year low against the dollar earlier on Thursday after dire German economic data suggested no country in the region was immune from crisis, spooking investors already weighing the risk of Greece leaving the euro zone. This offset a potentially bullish lift from International Monetary Fund data that showed another rise in central bank holdings in April, after the largest purchase in over four years by the Philippines and further additions by the likes of Mexico, Ukraine and Russia to their reserves. Spot gold rose 0. ...

(Reuters) - Markets extended gains in Asia on Tuesday with investors hunting for bargains in shares beaten down to 2012 lows late last week, as hopes grew that Europe could agree on fresh action to tackle its debt crisis while promoting growth. A Chinese media report saying Beijing will accelerate infrastructure investments to combat slowing growth lifted Hong Kong and Chinese shares by 1.2 percent .HSI and 0.6 percent .SSEC respectively. European shares looked likely to extend gains, with financial spreadbetters predicting that major European markets .FTSE .FCHI .GDAXI would open as much as 1.0 percent higher. U.S. stock futures were up 0.1 percent. .EU .L .N MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS climbed 1.4 percent, having recovered on Monday from a ...

- While waiting for the Greek election on 17 June we are likely to see continued high uncertainty and continued high stress in the markets. Things are likely to get worse before they get better. - Amid this uncertainty, Greek citizens are likely to withdraw more money from their banks and this could escalate into a real bank run. - A major game of chicken has started between the EU on the one hand and Greek politicians on the other. - The EU is likely to stand firm on its demands for Greece to deliver austerity and give only a few concessions. The rethoric from the left coalition party Syriza is likely to continue to be fiercely against the EU as it is aiming to become the biggest party and get 50 bonus mandates for this. - We look at three different post-election scenarios. ...

Asian shares on Thursday recovered a bit of the ground lost in the previous day's sell-off, but investors found no reason to bet on risk amid deepening turmoil in Greece and fears of contagion to other stressed euro zone economies. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.5 percent on short covering, after sliding more than 3 percent - its biggest one-day drop in six months - on Wednesday. The index hit a new 4-month low on Wednesday, and has shed 9.6 percent since May 2. Gold and the euro recovered from Wednesday's lows as a recovery in shares helped improve sentiment slightly. Bucking the general trend of recovery in Asia-Pacific, Australian shares .AXJO bucked the general recovery, falling 0.6 percent to a four-month low, with banks easing on ...

Markets eye whether BOE extends its Asset Purchase Program later today; Greece continues to struggle to form new gov't Economic Data (RU) Russia Central Bank (CBR) left Refinancing Rate unchanged at 8.00%, as expected (ID) Indonesia Central Bank left Reference Rate unchanged at 5.75%, as expected (FI) Finland Mar Industrial Production M/M: -1.5% v -0.2%e; Y/Y: -5.7% v -2.2%e (FR) Bank of France Apr Business Sentiment: 95 v 95e (FR) France Mar Industrial Production M/M: -0.9% v -0.6%e; Y/Y: -0.9% v -1.3%e (FR) France Mar Manufacturing Production M/M:+1.4% v -0.2%e; Y/Y: -0.3% v -2.8%e (FR) France Mar Central Govt. Balance: -€29.4B v -€24.2B prior (ES) Spain Mar House transactions Y/Y: -22.7% v -31.8% prior (CZ) Czech Apr CPI M/M: 0.0% v 0.1%e; Y/Y: 3.5% v 3.6%e (CZ) Czech Mar ...

The Weekly Bottom Line HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK United States - U.S. job creation may have weakened in the last few months, but the grounds for sustaining stronger employment growth are more fertile now than have been since the economic recovery began. Europe's labor market, by contrast, is likely to deteriorate further before it gets better. - Europe's (nonfinancial) corporate sector is highly leveraged. As balance sheet adjustments are made, Europe risks further decreases in investment, higher layoffs, and lower economic growth. These effects are compounded by deleveraging in the public sector. - U.S. corporations, by contrast, are more profitable and liquid than they have ever been. At some point some of these funds will be unleashed towards new investment, creating a positive ...

(Reuters) - The dollar slipped against the yen in volatile trading on Friday after a key U.S. April jobs report painted a mixed picture about the health of the economy. U.S. employers added 115,000 workers last month, well below expectations of 170,000, but the unemployment rate still fell to 8.1 percent and jobs growth data in previous months was revised upwards. The disappointing headline reading will likely compound fears that the U.S. economy is losing momentum and fuel expectations of a third round of quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve. "While certainly disappointing, today's employment report does have a silver lining - a drop in the unemployment rate with upward historical revisions," said Michael Woolfolk, senior currency strategist at BNY Mellon in New York. " ...

(Reuters) - Quarterly reports from some of Europe's top banks showed the scars of the euro zone crisis on Thursday, with big losses on Spanish property, and fragile markets casting a shadow over the rest of the year despite an early investment banking rebound. Spanish bank Santander said first quarter net profit dropped 24 percent after it took a 3.1 billion euro ($4.1 billion) provision to cover rising loan defaults, as the effects of Spain's property market crash were compounded by economic recession and joblessness afflicting nearly one in four workers. Although results from Barclays and Deutsche Bank showed investment banking income bounced back strongly after a torrid end to last year, the sickly euro zone economy continues to dog the industry. Barclays beat analysts' forecasts ...

(Reuters) - The euro lost some ground on Tuesday, a day after short-covering helped it pull away from two-month lows against the dollar, and remained vulnerable ahead of a Spanish bond auction as euro zone debt jitters showed no signs of abating. Spain is set to see its borrowing costs leap when it sells short-term bonds after concerns over its deficit and banking sector pushed longer term risk premiums above 6 percent and drove the cost of insuring its debt to a record high. The developments fuelled concerns Madrid might fail to meet deficit targets as the country acknowledged it has probably tipped into its second recession since 2009. That would raise the risk of it being pushed into seeking an international bailout. The common currency shed 0.2 percent to $1.3110, having ...