Euro Buoyed By Hopes

The euro edged higher against the dollar on Friday but hovered near a 3-1/2-month low as political uncertainty in Greece and hefty losses unveiled by U.S. bank JPMorgan Chase kept investors wary of placing bets in favor of the currency. The euro rose for a second day after falling for eight straight sessions, with investors squarely focused on Greece, where inconclusive election results last Sunday threw the country into political disarray and raised the risk of it exiting the euro zone. "The recent decline in the euro/dollar is clearly a direct response to the decline in global equity markets," said Gareth Sylvester, senior currency strategist at Klarity FX in San Francisco. "These declines have been driven by the shifting political landscape in Europe, most notably in Greece and ...

(Reuters) - U.S. equities rose slightly on Thursday as solid U.S. home sales data buoyed optimism and outweighed discouraging labor market figures. Global equities and the euro also edged higher, despite simmering worries over the euro zone. Contracts to purchase previously owned U.S. homes increased solidly to a near two-year high in March, offering hopes of a pick-up in housing. U.S. stocks rose shortly after the data, with the euro advancing against the dollar as well. "In any case, progress on the housing market is going to be slow and gradual," said ING's Teunis Brosens. "The pick-up in sales over the past few months appears to be at least partly driven by all-cash buyers." The pending home sales data is an important clue to existing home sales, Brosens added. "Slowly but surely, ...

Gold rose on Thursday, as investors covered short positions after a sharp two-day pullback, and a crude oil rally also buoyed the precious metal that sank early this week when investors grew pessimistic about further U.S. monetary easing. Bullion rebounded from its biggest two-day drop in a month after it steadied above key technical resistance at $1,600 an ounce where investors had placed heavy put options to protect against further losses. Trading volume was thin ahead of Friday's U.S. nonfarm payrolls report and the Good Friday holiday in Western markets. Gold remained on track for a weekly decline exceeding 2 percent after minutes of the latest Federal Reserve policy meeting doused hopes for further U.S. monetary stimulus. Market watchers said some hedge funds might have reduced ...

(Reuters) - Gold edged up on Thursday after two straight days of deep losses, but gains were capped as receding hopes of further U.S. monetary stimulus took the sheen off bullion's appeal as a hedge against inflation. Bullion lost more than 3 percent over the past two days after the U.S. Federal Reserve released minutes from its last policy meeting which showed policy makers were less inclined to launch more monetary stimulus as the economic outlook gradually improves. Hopes for more money-printing by the Fed had buoyed spot gold prices to $1,790.30 in February, the highest level since last November. "The world in 2011 was all about QE (quantitative easing) and more potential QE. Now the environment is a little different - the U.S. economy is back on better footing ...

(Reuters) - Stocks and the euro fell on Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve dimmed hopes for fresh asset-buying, further underlining its divergence with an embattled Europe that remains in crisis-fighting mode. Overnight minutes from the Fed's March meet showed less support for more quantitative easing (QE), or bond-buying, in the face of improved economic data, which buoyed the dollar and hit stocks in both the United States and Asia. With Europe still battling its debt crisis and struggling with economic growth, the focus later will be on the European Central Bank's latest rate-setting meeting, with rates expected to remain on hold at 1 percent. The Asian weakness extended into early European trade with the FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 down 0.1 percent and world stocks .MIWD00000PUS ...

Copper retreated from a one-week high on Wednesday, hit by currency-related selling and concerns about an uncertain demand outlook from top-consumer China that worked to drag prices back toward the middle of a months-long trading range. Copper tracked overnight losses in Asian markets. Shanghai shares sustained their biggest one-day loss this year after Premier Wen Jiabao doused expectations of any near-term easing of measures in the country's property sector, a key consumer of the red metal. The comments roiled growth-sensitive commodities like crude oil and industrial metals, which one day earlier were flying high on the back of better-than-expected U.S. retail sales data and a brighter economic outlook from the Federal Reserve. "While the U.S. economy continues to improve, we are ...

The dollar edged higher on Wednesday, boosted by a cautiously brighter outlook from the Federal Reserve and news that most U.S. banks passed stress tests, while stocks were mixed after the previous session's strong U.S. gains. European stocks rose to near eight-month peaks and the dollar notched the latest in a series of 11-month highs against the yen. The greenback also reached its strongest against the euro in a month, buoyed by speculation that the Fed could be inching away from adding more stimulus to the world's biggest economy. U.S. stock indices, however, followed the previous session's sharp rise to multi-year highs with only slight gains. The Fed said late on Tuesday it expects "moderate" growth over coming quarters, with the unemployment rate declining gradually, versus the " ...

The euro leaped to its highest level against the dollar in 10 weeks and to its strongest since November versus the yen on Thursday as better-than-expected German data offset a dour economic forecast from the European Commission. The single currency retreated from highs after the EU's executive said the euro zone economy is heading into its second recession in just three years and the wider European Union will stagnate, warning that the currency area has yet to break its vicious cycle of debt. Optimistic news about Germany, however, ultimately had investors favoring the euro. "We're clearly in a bit of a risk-on mode following the strong German data and that should remain the main driver of activity," said Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in Washington. ...

(Reuters) - The euro rose to a 10-week high against the dollar and its strongest since November versus the yen on Thursday after better-than-expected German data eased concerns about a bleak euro zone economic outlook. However, the conviction that Greece's latest bailout deal will not draw a line under it or the euro zone's debt crisis was expected to limit gains for the euro, meaning the currency may struggle to hold gains above $1.33. German business sentiment rose for a fourth month running in February, raising hopes that Europe's largest economy is improving and will avoid recession despite the problems facing indebted euro zone countries. But the single currency came off highs after the EU commission forecast the euro zone economy to contract by 0.3 percent in 2012. The euro was ...