Fallout From The Euro Zone

(Reuters) - Asian shares eased on Thursday as markets were vulnerable to faltering factory orders in China and lack of concrete measures shown by European leaders to tackle the risk of Greece leaving the currency bloc. European Union leaders, at an informal meeting on Wednesday, said they wanted Greece to stay in the euro zone while respecting commitments it had made in return for its bailout, but have been advised by senior officials to prepare contingency plans in case Greece exits. The murky outlook for the euro zone and fears that the crisis could derail the global economy have prompted investors to park money in safe-haven assets such as U.S. and German government bonds, the U.S. dollar or cash. Implications of a retreat in China's HSBC Flash Purchasing Managers Index, the earliest ...

We have heard conflicting information about Greece over the last 24 hours: first we heard that Greece was making plans to leave the Eurozone from former Prime Minister Papademos, which was denied. Then this morning reports from a German newspaper suggested that the ECB had set up a task force (tucked away in a bunker) working on the potential fallout from a Greek exit. It's likely that we will get these conflicting headlines between now and the end of the EU summit, which starts this evening at 1800 BST. The markets' seemed to like the idea of an Avengers - style ECB working to combat the negative effects if Athens goes to the wall, and the euro bounced from its lowest level since 2010 earlier. But the real test will be the outcome of today's summit. So what should we expect and, ...

Copper prices steadied on Thursday after sliding for four straight days and touching four-month lows, but traders remained wary about the metal's prospects amid fears of more fallout from Europe should Greece exit the euro. For the first time since Friday, copper futures in London and New York inched toward positive territory as support returned to commodities deemed oversold in the risk flight of the past week. Still, worries about how Europe -- particularly Spain -- would manage Greece's exit from the euro hung heavily on markets, including copper. A bond sale by Spain came at a markedly higher cost for the government than before, signaling investors' growing concern about the possibility of a contagion impact should Athens default on its own sovereign debt. "Copper's still seeing ...

Consumer sentiment in the U.S. rose to 77.8 in May from the final April reading of 76.4, according to a report released by Reuters and the University of Michigan on Friday. While, the Labor Department said on Friday that its producer price index fell by 0.2 percent in April. According to Bloomberg news, Sales at U.S. retailers probably slowed in April as the weather turned more seasonable and consumers took a breather following a pre-Easter holiday buying spree, economists said before a report this week. The projected 0.2 percent gain in purchases would follow a 0.8 percent advance in March, according to the median forecast of 68 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News ahead of Commerce Department figures on May 15. Events in the U.S, likely to affect the markets this week are: Monday; a ...

The deadlock is still ripping through financial markets as investors fear the political vacuum in Greece will lead to a new round of election and only stall a dead-man-walking which is a messy bankruptcy and euro exit for Greece! The political gridlock is still the major highlight, and after the elections that surely reflected the anti-austerity spirit and resentment towards the people to the government by supporting anti-austerity parties, the elections failed to support wide support for a majority parliament. The elections that brought New Democracy to the lead did not offer a stable parliament for Samaras to form a government in the first attempt earlier this week on Monday. Alexis Tsipras followed from the second winning party the radical leftist Syriza and also failed to form a ...

(Reuters) - Brent crude steadied above $118 a barrel on Thursday, reflecting caution among investors ahead of a key U.S. employment report after dismal data from the United States to Europe renewed doubts about the state of the global economy. Oil slid the most in two weeks on Wednesday as investors sold off commodities and equities after data showed hiring by U.S. private firms in April was the slowest since September, new orders for U.S. factory goods suffered the steepest drop in three years and the euro zone's manufacturing sector index marked its lowest reading since June 2009. "Risk markets are overall very cautious ahead of this nonfarm payroll data, that's why we're seeing reduced volumes and a few bets being taken off the table," said Ben Le Brun, market analyst at OptionsXpress ...

(Reuters) - Spain will pay dearly for longer-term debt on Thursday when it auctions a 10-year bond for only the second time this year to markets spooked by fears it will miss deficit targets and fail to restart growth. The benchmark 10-year bond peeped above 6 percent on Monday for the first time since the end of November, sparking concern it could soon become unsustainable for the government to refinance itself, though pressure on the paper has since eased. The Treasury aims to raise up to 2.5 billion euros ($3.3 billion) between the auction of a bond maturing October 31, 2014, with a 3.3 percent coupon and the benchmark, which comes due January 31, 2022 and holds a 5.85 percent coupon. The relatively small auction - and the fact the Treasury has already raised 47 percent of its gross ...

(Reuters) - European stocks rose on Tuesday, as an upbeat German economic sentiment reading and adequate demand at a Spanish government debt auction helped to ease risk aversion and lure investors back in to the equity market after a month-long sell-off. Technical strategists, however, said it was too soon to call the end of the downward trend, with the latest move likely to prove just a temporary correction. By 1028 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 was up 1.0 percent at 1,042.44 points, extending gains into a second day. The Euro STOXX 50 index of euro zone blue chips .STOXX50E added 1.6 percent to 2,337.11 points, bouncing from technical support of 2,300 after languishing in oversold territory on the 7-day relative strength index (RSI) for around two weeks. The index is still ...

Weekly Economic and Financial Commentary U.S. Review Nonfarm Payroll Report Continues to Show Progress The big headline for the week was the nonfarm payroll report which showed the labor market added 227,000 jobs in February with the unemployment rate unchanged at 8.3 percent. The private sector added 233,000 jobs with the largest gains in temporary help, manufacturing, education & health and leisure & hospitality. The real trade deficit of the United States widened in December to -$49.1 billion from -$48.3 billion. While much of the drop was due to an increase in petroleum prices, we expect trade to be a drag on first quarter economic growth. Positive Jobs Report Continues to Support Growth This week's economic indicators continued to signal a moderate pace of economic ...