Pares Gain In Spread

Gold prices eked out small gains on Friday on the back of a weaker dollar and as traders sought bargains after the previous session's sell-off and as the first quarter neared its end. Bullion was set to end the quarter up 6.6 percent, having outperformed the 1.7-percent drop in the dollar index and recovering from its drop in the fourth quarter, its first quarterly decline in three years. Gold's gains for the quarter were well below those of other precious metals. Platinum was set to rise almost 17 percent while silver was headed for a 16 percent gain in the quarter. For the day, spot gold rose 0.47 percent to $1,668.77 an ounce at 2:50 p.m. EDT (1815 GMT), trading in an unusually narrow $10 range ahead of the end of the first quarter. U.S. gold futures for June delivery raced higher ...

Spiking U.S. bond yields and super-loose Japanese monetary policy are reviving the yen carry trade, which could spell more weakness in the currency after its biggest two-month drop in three years. The yen was last in vogue as a cheap global funding vehicle for buying higher-yielding assets in 2005-2008, before the global financial crisis sent investors fleeing to the exits. Now with a global economic recovery slowly picking up steam and Europe's debt crisis seemingly off the boil, traders are again looking to sell the low-interest rate yen to raise cash for forays into riskier and more rewarding assets. With U.S.-Japan interest rate differentials narrow until mid-March and geopolitical risks troubling investors, many investors were skeptical the yen carry trade would make a comeback for ...

(Reuters) - Brent pared gains on Tuesday after rising above $117 per barrel to push its premium to U.S. crude above $20 a barrel, triggering profit taking and helping U.S. crude recover and rally. Fears that Iran would stop exports to the European Union in advance of the EU's embargo set for July, along with Europe's severe cold snap, had lifted Brent despite concerns Greece's debt crisis would result in curbed economic growth. U.S. crude had been weighed down by rising domestic stocks and tepid demand that was highlighted in recent government data. However, data has started painting an improving jobs picture that is more supportive to oil. Brent's premium to U.S. crude oil widened to more than $20 per barrel on Tuesday, its highest since October, then a sharp reversal by Brent and ...

The Weekly Bottom Line : 05/02/2012 HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK United States U.S. economic indicators for January point to renewed momentum in early 2012. Non-farm payrolls expanded by a vigorous 243K, and the unemployment rate fell to 8.3%. Vehicle sales rose 4.6% to 14.1 million (SAAR) in January, reaching the highest level in over three and half years and surpassing the one-time shot in the arm provided by the cash for clunkers stimulus program. ISM manufacturing and non-manufacturing indexes posted strong gains and, as leading indicators, give hope that January's performance could be maintained in the month's ahead. Despite the positive turn in the data, 2012 will remain a challenging year for economic growth. The housing market and European recession present key ...

Weekly Economic and Financial Commentary : 29/01/2012 U.S. Review Less Strength Than Meets The Eye Real GDP grew at a 2.8 percent annualized rate during the fourth quarter, but the underlying data show the economy has less momentum going into 2012. Durable goods orders and shipments rebounded solidly in December, casting some doubt on the earlier weak readings and bringing the data more closely in line with anecdotal reports and regional manufacturing surveys. Expectations for a housing rebound may have gotten a little ahead of themselves. New home sales fell slightly in December, and sales remain stuck near their average for the past 8 months. A Little Less Strength than Meets the Eye Real GDP grew at a 2.8 percent annualized rate during the fourth quarter. Growth was ...

(Reuters) - Spain and Italy spread cheer through euro zone markets on Thursday with successful debt auctions at sharply lower borrowing costs in 2012's first real test of appetite for debt from the euro zone's bruised periphery. The Spanish Treasury raised 10 billion euros ($12.7 billion) from the auction of three bonds, doubling its target of up to five billion, and yields dropped by about 1 percentage point. Italy also fared well, paying less than half what it did a month ago to sell one-year bills at its first auction of the year. European shares extended gains in response and the euro currency rose to a session high. Domestic banks continued to lend support thanks to ultra-cheap funding from the European Central Bank, which provided banks with nearly half a trillion euros of three- ...

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks are expected to end next year with modest gains, despite the threat of a global downturn brought on by the euro zone debt crisis and a tepid domestic economy that may still need more stimulus, a Reuters poll found. Strategists polled had solid hopes for the U.S. economy and many cited historically low price-to-earnings ratios. But the euro zone crisis has battered stock markets this year and there was a wide range of views on where Wall Street is headed. The Standard & Poor's 500 index .SPX.INX is expected to rise about 7.5 percent from Wednesday's close to 1,340 by the end of next year, according to a median forecast from over 40 respondents polled over the last week. Forecasts range from a high of 1,550 to a low of 718, almost as low as the nadir of March 2009, ...

(Reuters) - The world economy is on a slippery slope. The euro zone appears to have tipped into a mild recession and the rest of the global economy is struggling to hold onto firm ground. China is slowing, Japan's exports are tumbling. Eastern European countries are wobbling as credit dries up from a pullback in lending by euro-zone banks. In the United States, the improving economic picture has clouded somewhat after a mixed batch of economic data and downward revision to third-quarter growth to 2.0 percent doused some of the optimism for a strong fourth quarter. Consumer spending slowed in October and business investment weakened, showing a recovery that remains weak and vulnerable to shocks. Against this uncertain backdrop, financial markets are volatile as European leaders fail to ...

(Reuters) - The euro fell to a fresh seven-week low against the dollar on Friday and was set to weaken further as a lack of agreement between European leaders on how to tackle the spreading debt crisis in the euro zone continued to rattle nervy investors. Talks by the heads of Germany, France and Italy on Thursday were overshadowed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel's determined opposition to a joint euro zone bond and a bigger role for the European Central Bank to deal with the crisis. "Merkel sees no scope for euro bonds and the ECB continues to make it clear it sees no scope for financing public debt," said Manuel Oliveri, currency strategist at UBS in Zurich. "Without agreement on either of those two factors there is not much chance of an improvement in sentiment toward the euro and ...