Key Gauge Of Europe's

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 ...

Fundamental Analysis EUR "The U.S. labor-market report will further erode investor confidence" - Markus Allenspach, head of bond research at Julius Baer Group Ltd. European stocks extended weekly losses, after a report showed U.S. companies added fewer jobs than expected in April. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index erased 1.76 per cent to 253.00. Germany’s DAX Index tumbled 1.99 per cent and France’s CAC 40 Index contracted 1.90 per cent. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index lost 1.93 per cent to 5,655.06. USD "We’re still very much on the recovery path, but we’ve got a huge amount of ground to make up in the labor market" - Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James & Associates Inc. The number of Americans, who have found a job in the private sector in April, tumbled to 115,000 from 154,000 the ...

Fundamental News The new Euro-zone politics will dominate markets throughout this week, as anti-austerity political parties take hold in Europe. The confirmation of Hollande’s victory in France marks the end of the Merkel-Sarkozy dominance at the political heart of Europe. Investors are acutely aware of the new leader's distain for austerity measures and some elements of the EU's new fiscal treaty. Mr Hollande has vowed not to ratify the new EU treaty unless new growth promoting measures are added, which is going to significantly draw-out the process of fiscal integration, if not stop it altogether. While in Athens, both mainstream political parties saw a dramatic collapse in support with anti-austerity groups seizing the opportunity to bolster their support. The head of the Syriza party, ...

(Reuters) - Euro zone factories sank further into decline last month but manufacturers in Asia upped their tempo to meet growing demand from the United States and China, exposing a widening gulf between Europe and the rest of the world. Worryingly for European policymakers, a downturn that is hitting Italy and Spain hard, now appears to be taking root among core members France and Germany. The data hit the euro and dented optimism following a similar survey on Tuesday that showed the pace of growth in U.S. manufacturing picked up much more than expected. "The numbers coming out of the euro zone give no cause for comfort. The China economy is holding up, but the debt crisis in Europe is weighing on growth and its rippling across the world," said Peter Dixon at Commerzbank. "Global ...

(Reuters) - The dollar rose from a one-month low against the euro and a 2-1/2-month trough versus the yen on Tuesday in thin trading, after a key U.S. manufacturing gauge showed factory activity unexpectedly picked up last month, offsetting recent weak economic reports. The Institute for Supply Management's factory data was one of the rare instances of positive U.S. economic news in recent weeks. Traders used the stronger-than-expected ISM manufacturing report to rebuild long dollar bets that had grown stale as the economy's outlook weakened. "The view on the economy has swung from optimism to pessimism of late and this could bring us back to the middle," said Nick Bennenbroek, head of FX strategy for North America at Wells Fargo in New York. "ISM suggests there's no real reason to get ...

(Reuters) - The dollar rallied from a one-month low against the euro and a 2-1/2-month trough versus the yen on Tuesday in thin trading, after a key U.S. manufacturing gauge showed factory activity unexpectedly picked up last month, offsetting recent weak economic reports. The U.S. Institute for Supply Management's data was one of the rare instances of positive U.S. economic news in recent weeks and traders used this to rebuild long dollar bets that had grown stale as the outlook for the economy weakened. "The view on the economy has swung from optimism to pessimism of late and this could bring us back to the middle," said Nick Bennenbroek, head of FX strategy for North America at Wells Fargo in New York. "ISM suggests there's no real reason to get too concerned about the path of the U.S. ...

(Reuters) - The euro dropped against the dollar on Monday and was on track for its worst month since December, weighed down by news of Spain slipping back into recession and signs of weaker economic momentum in the United States. Investors were also wary of buying euros before weekend elections in France and Greece and a European Central Bank meeting this week that could further knock sentiment on the euro zone currency. "All the news out of Europe is getting worse, although we're still in a range," said Win Thin, senior currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York. "I think the European news and the generally weak U.S. data are sort of feeding into this risk-aversion mode." The euro failed to gain traction despite signs the U.S. economic recovery was losing momentum, ...

(Reuters) - Asian shares rose on Monday as weaker-than-expected U.S. growth data left open the possibility of further monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve to boost growth, but trading was subdued with Japanese and Chinese markets closed. The dollar remained pressured by Friday's report showing annual growth in the U.S. economy cooled in the first quarter to 2.2 percent, below a 2.5 percent forecast, and concerns about lower fuel demand brought oil prices lower. "A flavor of QE (quantitative easing) is back in the air, driving the U.S. dollar lower and risky assets higher," said Sebastien Galy, strategist at Societe Generale. Asian equities followed the rise in global equities on Friday on the back of strong earnings reports, although Asian growth prospects were clouded as South ...

(Reuters) - Gold hovered near $1,640 an ounce on Monday after data showed stabilising factory activities in China, while investors focused on a U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting later in the week to gauge the health of the world's largest economy. Gold fell 1 percent last week, in tandem with equities and other commodities, as resurfaced fear about Spain's debt crisis raised concerns about global economic growth and dented risk appetite. China's factories stabilized in April as output ticked higher, new business rose from multi-month lows and export orders perked up, the HSBC Flash Purchasing Managers Index said, in line with expectations. "Gold doesn't seem to be trading on anything other than externally derived sentiment," said Nick Trevethan, senior commodity strategist at ANZ in ...