Euro Softens As

Consolidation Continues Post The Spanish Bond Auction The big event of the morning was the Spanish bond auction, however it failed to generate anything more than an immediate ripple in the FX market. The auction raised just below the top of its target amount of EU2.5bn, at EU 2.49bn. Although demand was strong, Madrid had to pay up to attract investors to its debt. The yield on the 2015 debt it sold jumped to 4.375% vs. 2.89% at an auction in April, the 2016 debt sold with a yield of 4.876% vs. 4.037% at an auction earlier this month. Will Germany soften its stance? In the aftermath, EURUSD is down about 20 pips but it remains above 1.27, while Spanish bond yields have actually fallen. The consolidation period in the market may continue as we lead up to the G8 summit in the US this ...

(Reuters) - Asian shares fell on Monday as a sharp slowdown in U.S. jobs growth raised concerns about the strength of the world's largest economy, prompting investors to curb risk exposure ahead of more U.S. data and earnings as well as figures from China this week. Friday's data showed U.S. payrolls grew by 120,000 in March, far below the expected gain of 203,000 jobs for the smallest rise since October, keeping the door open for the Federal Reserve to provide more monetary support to the fragile economy. Industrial commodities such as copper and oil fell on growth worries while the potential for more Fed easing helped gold rebound but pressured the dollar. MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS declined for a fourth straight session, slipping as much ...

(Reuters) - The dollar leaped higher against the euro and yen on Tuesday as minutes from the Federal Reserve's March policy meeting weakened expectations of more stimulus measures from the U.S. central bank. Fed policymakers appeared less keen to launch a new phase of monetary stimulus through a third round of bond buying, or quantitative easing (QE). In the half hour following the release, the euro tumbled a full cent, its biggest drop since March 9. The Fed's two rounds of QE were tantamount to printing money, so diminished expectations of QE3 lifted the appeal of the dollar. The minutes surprised the market because just last week Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke kept alive the idea of more stimulus by warning about the risks of long-term unemployment for the economy, which investors ...

(Reuters) - The dollar rose 1 percent against the yen on Tuesday as minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's March meeting weakened expectations of more stimulus measures. Fed policymakers appeared less keen to launch a new round of monetary stimulus through a third round of bond buying, or quantitative easing. QE is tantamount to printing money, and while diminished expectations of QE3 buoyed the dollar against the yen, the greenback remained in its weeks-long trading range against the euro. "What the minutes have done was essentially take the market off guard because the members have indicated that there is no need for additional stimulus, unless the economy lost momentum or inflation was slower to pick up," said Alexander Chepurko, foreign exchange analyst at Forex Club in New York. " ...

(Reuters) - Gold eased on Tuesday as a brief recovery in the euro ran out of steam and Moody's warned that the agency may cut its triple-A credit ratings of France, Britain and Austria. Spot gold was at $1,714.41 an ounce at 1310 GMT against $1,722.49 late in New York on Monday. U.S. gold futures for February delivery were down $8.7 at $1,716.00. The euro retreated into negative territory after having hit session highs against the dollar when German economic sentiment data from ZEW suggested Europe's largest economy was holding up despite the debt crisis. Gold remains more sensitive to moves in the euro/dollar exchange rate in the short term than to rising risk aversion, which in the past has been a positive driver of prices. It remains vulnerable to fresh losses in the single currency, ...

(Reuters) - Gold steadied on Tuesday after stronger-than-expected German economic data helped the euro reverse early losses, but the single currency remained under pressure after rating agency Moody's said it may cut its triple-A ratings of France, Britain and Austria. Spot gold was at $1,720.10 an ounce at 1034 GMT against $1,722.49 late in New York on Monday. U.S. gold futures for February delivery were down $2.90 at $1,722.00. The euro rose to a session high against the dollar while German bund futures fell after German ZEW surprised on the upside and bolstered expectations that Europe's largest economy was holding up despite the debt crisis. Gold remains more sensitive to moves in the euro/dollar exchange rate in the short term than to rising risk aversion, which in the past has ...

(Reuters) - The euro took something of a hit on Monday as Greek coalition parties dithered on approving the terms for a new bailout with a deadline just hours away. Greece's coalition members must tell the European Union by noon on Monday (1000 GMT) whether they accept the painful terms of a new bailout worth 130 billion euros in order to avoid a disorderly default, with euro zone ministers postponing a meeting planned for Monday due to the delay in Athens. "There are so many hurdles before they reach a deal, with so many sticking points," said Minori Uchida, senior currency analyst at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ. "The euro will likely test $1.30 again." The single currency shed 0.4 percent in early Asian trade to stand at $1.3105, having fallen as far as $1.3075 in thin early trade. ...

Precious metal prices appear to have entered a new stage. With increasing frequency, and regularity, the price of gold and silver has been swinging in volatile fashion. These volatile price swings have likely caused many individual investors to become reluctant, even fearful, of taking on fresh positions. After substantial runs to fresh highs, prices over the last week have whipped back and forth in a violent manner, making trouble for trend followers. How long might it be before these troubling times are over and a clear trend is re-established? Or better still, how far and in which direction must gold prices move before the market settles down and volatility softens? Past performance is not indicative of future results. ***chart courtesy of Gecko Software Precious metals have always ...

What happened on Friday? A “moment of truth” arrived for Europe. But what is the truth? We’ll have to wait to find out. The Dow rose 259 points. Gold was up $28. But who cares? Up, down…up, down… Every day brings more ‘truth.’ But what we want is a truth with legs. We’re not day traders. Not week traders. Not even year traders. We want a long, sure…mega trend. We want the Dow at 900 in 1983. Or gold at 260 in 1998. What is there today that is equivalent? How about 10-year US bonds at 2.20% yield? For upside, we can’t think of a single other thing. US bonds have been in a long, long uptrend — basically — since they’ve existed. From 1791 to the present, they’ve gone up. Of course, there have been some major problems along the way, notably in the ’70s when it looked like the Fed had lost ...