Crisis Increasingly Weigh

"Dear God," wrote economist Rajeev Malik as he called on the Almighty to help India's "rudderless" government in a biting critique that underscored a growing frustration at home and abroad with the stewardship of Asia's third-largest economy. Writing in India's Business Standard newspaper, the well-respected Malik echoed the exasperation of Indian and foreign business groups pressing for the government to swiftly implement major economic reforms and formulate a coherent strategy to deal with its mounting problems. Another newspaper said India could be heading to a Greek-style crisis. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Congress Party blames unreliable allies in his coalition government for blocking major reforms aimed at opening up the economy to much-needed foreign investment and tackling ...

Asian shares tumbled on Friday and were set for their worst weekly showing since September, amid political turmoil in Greece and signs of growing instability in Spanish banks, with investors adding the latest weak U.S. data to the list of risk factors. Assets across the board, from commodities such as oil and gold to riskier currencies such as the euro and the Australian dollar were all heading for their weekly losses. Financial stocks were hammered after the head of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ.AX) said volatile conditions in global markets have caused the wholesale funding market for Australian banks to freeze again, a worrying echo of the global financial crisis. European shares were also set to fall, with financial spreadbetters predicting that major European markets ...

The Week Ahead ■The Bank of England's next move ■Is this the beginning of the end for the Eurozone? ■Fed officials reluctant to signal more easing ■Broader risk environment outweighs Japanese rhetoric The Bank of England's next move The BOE kept rates on hold when it concluded its May meeting last week; it also allowed the asset purchase program to come to an end. Since the UK slipped back into recession in Q1 2012 and the growth figures at the start of the second quarter have continued to look weak, the decision to hold interest rates was mostly down to the sticky outlook for inflation. The attention now turns to Wednesday's Inflation Report. The focus will be on the Bank's growth and inflation forecasts. The growth forecasts are likely to be revised lower. Even ...

Gold rose on Thursday after touching a four-month low in the previous session, as an uptick in the euro after Spain moved to clean up its banks and Europe's bailout fund approved a key payment to Greece took some pressure off prices. While the euro zone debt crisis simmers, moves to address some of its problems temporarily improve investor appetite for assets seen as higher risk, like stocks and commodities, as well as the single currency. Spot gold was up 0.4 percent at $1,597.33 an ounce at 09.42 a.m. EDT, after falling as low as $1,579.30 an ounce on Wednesday, its weakest since early January. U.S. gold futures for June delivery were up $3.80 an ounce at $1,597.90. Prices have fallen 3 percent this week as concerns over the euro zone debt crisis pressured the euro and other risk ...

(Reuters) - Gold steadied in Europe on Thursday after falling to a four-month low in the previous session, as an uptick in the euro after Spain moved to clean up its banks and Europe's bailout fund approved a key payment to Greece took some pressure off prices. While the euro zone debt crisis is continuing to simmer, moves to address some of its problems are improving appetite for assets seen as higher risk, like stocks and commodities, as well as the single currency. Spot gold was at $1,589.40 an ounce at 05.26 a.m. EDT against $1,590.45 late on Wednesday, when it fell as low as $1,579.30 an ounce, its weakest since early January. Prices have fallen 3 percent this week as concerns over the euro zone debt crisis pressured the euro and other risk assets. While investors bought gold as a ...

(Reuters) - Gold prices fell 1 percent on Thursday after data showing a slide in U.S. weekly jobless claims last week boosted expectations that Friday's non-farm payrolls report will beat forecasts, offsetting a rebound in the euro. A strong reading of the U.S. employment market on Friday would likely further curb speculation that the Federal Reserve would take fresh measures to shore up the economic recovery, a prospect that had been seen as gold-friendly. Spot gold was down 0.9 percent at $1,638.51 an ounce at 1318 GMT (5.18 am EDT) , having earlier touched a low of $1,625.89. U.S. gold futures for June delivery were down $15.10 an ounce at $1,638.90. "The focus for the next 24 hours will be the jobless report tomorrow," SAxo Bank vice president Ole Hansen said. "The (jobless) claims ...

Major European PMI Manufacturing data disappoints; Weak German jobs data blamed on Easter holiday Economic Data (EU) ECB: €606M borrowed in overnight loan facility v €619M prior; €789.3B parked in deposit facility v €794.0B prior (Monday) (IN) India Apr Markit Manufacturing PMI: 54.9 v 54.7 prior (DE) Germany Mar ILO Employment (Seasonally Adj): 41.459 v 41.406M prior; Unemployment Rate: 5.6% v 5.6% prior (SE) Sweden Apr Swedbank PMI Survey: 50.2 v 50.5e (PL) Poland Apr Manufacturing PMI: 49.2 v 49.5e (HU) Hungary Mar Producer Prices M/M: +0.2% v -1.3% prior; Y/Y: 6.4% v 6.7%e (NO) Norway Apr PMI: 53.7 v 57.0e (TR) Turkey Apr Manufacturing PMI: 52.3 v 49.6 prior (ES) Spain Apr Manufacturing PMI: 43.5 v 43.6e (three-year low) (TH) Thailand Central Bank leaves Benchmark Interest Rate ...

The Week Ahead Highlights US employment data in focus Bank of Japan underwhelms RBA likely to cut The SNB talks tough on the Swissie Is the UK economy really that weak? The Eurozone's growth pact US employment data in focus Earlier this week, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) held its 2-day policy meeting. The bank kept policy on hold and upgraded the economic assessment, however comments from Ben Bernanke - which did not provide any new insight in our view - kept Treasury yields low, equity markets supported, and the dollar soft with QE3 speculation back into focus. Fed projections showed upwards revision to real GDP growth with forecasts of 2.4%-2.9% for 2012 up from the prior 2.2%-2.7% estimate and the unemployment rate forecast was lowered to 7.8%-8% ...

What to Expect in Tomorrow's UK Q1 GDP Data On the eve of the UK GDP release for the first quarter that will confirm whether or not the UK managed to avoid a technical recession, it is worth taking stock of the actual "strength" of the UK economy as move towards the middle of the year. Overall, the biggest disappointment so far this year has been construction data, which may have contracted by approximately 10% in the first quarter. Construction is roughly 7% of UK GDP, so a contraction of this size could easily dent overall growth figures. Close behind comes industrial and manufacturing data. IP fell at a 2.3% annual rate in February and manufacturing data has declined four months out of the last five. Although the pick-up in PMI data suggests that things may have improved in March, the ...