Talks Hurt Euro

(Reuters) - Oil futures fell more than 2 percent on Wednesday to five-month lows, as a potential nuclear deal between Iran and the West eased supply concerns and worries about Greece's future in the euro zone raised questions about demand. Further pressure came from U.S. government data that showed weak demand and the ninth straight weekly build in domestic crude inventories, extending the stockpile buffer as the world's largest consumer gears up for the start of the summer driving season. "One aspect of the (U.S. Energy Information Administration) report stands out: The demand side is very poor, particularly the implied demand for gasoline and that is not good ahead of the Memorial Day holiday that starts the summer driving season," said Addison Armstrong, director of market ...

Iran agreed to let western nuclear inspectors into the country during talks in Bagdad today with US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany, reducing the supply risk and providing some relief. Moreover, the World Bank lowered its economic growth forecast for China, the world`s second-largest oil consumer, this year to 8.2% from 8.4% on sluggish US and European demand and softer property market. Investors are losing their appetite for risk after they were spooked by the mounting worries over Greece exiting the eurozone, which could determine other countries to follow it, according to Jin Liqun chairman of China Investment Corp. European leaders meet in Brussels today where the debate between French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel may intensify as the idea ...

(Reuters) - Oil fell on Wednesday on growing hopes of a deal between Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog, which eased fears of oil supply disruption, while concerns over the debt crisis in the euro zone and a slowing Chinese economy weighed on demand. The U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency expects to sign a deal with Iran soon to unblock investigations into suspected work on nuclear bombs in the oil-producing country. This improved the prospects for talks with Tehran to stop a drift towards conflict. Brent crude fell $1.39 to $107.02 per barrel. U.S. July crude fell $1.08 to $90.77. Brent crude oil has fallen from a peak of $128.40 at the start of May and is down 12.9 percent this quarter, its biggest such drop since the fourth quarter of 2008. Analysts said they believe there ...

Sunrise Market Commentary - Fixed Income: limited profit taking on core bond markets - Global core bond markets fell prey to some profit taking in a thin, dull trading session. However, given the strength of equities, bond losses were very limited and occurred at the onset of trading. Today, the eco calendar remains thin and the profit taking might go some further in the run-up to tomorrow's informal EU Summit. - Currencies EUR/USD rebound on profit taking - The correction in EUR/USD was prolonged, but the euro gains were modest and mostly technical in nature. The UK inflation report is the eye-catcher of the day as it may influence sterling. However, overall trading might again be thin ahead of tomorrow's euro Summit. The Sunrise Headlines - US Equities rose for a second ...

Sunrise Market Commentary - Fixed Income: Global core bonds take a breather - Investors remained mostly sidelined in an uneventful session on Friday. The G-8 meeting stressed the need for growth, besides fiscal consolidation and sees Greece staying inside EMU. This shouldn’t surprise markets today. With a razor thin calendar, trading might start the week in a lackluster mode. - Currencies: Euro succeeds short squeeze - On Friday, the decline of the euro halted and EUR/USD succeeded a cautious rebound, even as uncertainty on the EMU debt crisis persisted. Technical considerations will also dominate trading today as the G8 meeting provided no high profile measures to address the debt crisis. The Sunrise Headlines - US Equities rose for a second consecutive session on ...

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 ...

Oil prices fell on Monday as Greece's inability to form a coalition government and concerns about a slowing Chinese economy fed worries about the outlook for petroleum demand. Greece's turmoil triggered selling in dollar-denominated copper and gold, sending a benchmark commodities index to a 19-month low, while pressuring the euro to a four-month low against the dollar and weighing on the stock market. Hedge funds and large speculators made the biggest-ever cuts in their net long U.S. crude futures and options positions in the week to May 8, according to government data released on Friday, adding to this week's bearish sentiment. Crude futures extended losses that, in the two weeks ending on Friday, left Brent crude down 6.2 percent and U.S. crude off 8.4 percent. "The situation in ...

Gold edged up on Monday as bargain hunters lifted prices from four-month lows, but gains were capped as an inconclusive Greek election raised the risk the country could exit the euro zone and fanned fears of a worsening debt crisis in the region. Gold has moved in tandem with riskier assets this year as the turmoil in Europe sent the euro to multi-month lows and investors turned to the safety of the dollar, analysts said. The U.S. dollar has also been supported by optimism that more positive labor market numbers will be seen soon. Gold hit an intraday high at $1,585.39 an ounce and was barely changed at $1,578.45 by 0615 GMT. Bullion had tumbled to a low of around $1,573 on Friday, its weakest since early January, on fears that the debt crisis in Europe will hurt global economic growth. ...

Major European Services PMI again disappoints; Focus now on US April Non-Farm Payroll report Economic Data (EU) ECB: €983M borrowed in overnight loan facility v €638M prior; €805.7B parked in deposit facility v €803.1B prior (RU) Russia Narrow Money Supply (RUB): 6.90T v 6.91T prior (SE) Sweden Apr Services PMI: 48.6 v 52.6 prior (First contraction since Nov) (ES) Spain Apr Net Unemployment M/M: -6.6K v -15.0Ke (UK) Apr Halifax House Prices M/M: -2.4% v -0.8%e; 3M/Y: -0.5% v +0.4%e (ES) Spain Apr Services PMI: 42.1 v 45.4e (10th straight of contraction) (CH) Swiss Mar Real Retail Sales Y/Y: 4.2% v 1.1%e (SE) Sweden Mar Service Production M/M: 0.9% v 0.4% prior; Y/Y: 2.8% v 1.5%e (IT) Italy Apr PMI Services: 42.3 v 43.7e (FR) France Apr Final PMI Services: 45.2 v 46.4e (DE) ...