Warnings About The Yen

(Reuters) - The euro climbed to a more than one-week high against the dollar on Monday after an orderly auction of Greek default insurance supported views that Greece's threat to the euro zone has diminished. The euro also gained against the yen, hitting its strongest level in the almost five months since the Bank of Japan intervened to stem the currency's advance. Investors unwound bearish bets on the euro and focused on a Greek credit default swap auction that set the payout for holders of CDS totaling about 3.2 billion euros. The auction fixed a fair value price of 21.5 cents on the euro for Greek bonds, within expectations. That means an owner of Greek CDS would be paid 78.5 cents on the euro, which analysts said was enough to compensate for the roughly 75 percent loss investors ...

(Reuters) - The euro climbed to its highest in more than a week against the dollar on Monday after an orderly auction of Greek default insurance lent support to views that Greece presents less of a threat to the euro zone. The euro also gained against the yen, hitting its strongest level in the almost five months since the Bank of Japan intervened to stem its currency's advance. Investors unwound bearish bets on the euro and were focused on a Greek credit default swap auction to set the payout for holders of CDS totaling about 3.2 billion euros. The auction fixed a fair value price of 21.5 cents on the euro for Greek bonds, within expectations. That means an owner of Greek CDS would be paid 78.5 cents on the euro, which analysts said was enough to compensate for the roughly 75 percent ...

World stocks and the euro retreated on Tuesday on fresh concerns over Greece's bailout and on weak U.S. retail sales that gave investors pause about a rally that had pushed a broad measure of U.S. equities to almost a seven-month high this week. Euro zone finance ministers dropped plans for a special face-to-face meeting on Wednesday to finalize 130 billion euro bailout for Greece, and opted to hold a conference call instead. The benchmark S&P 500 index has risen more than 25 percent from its recent low in early October, leading investors to question how much further the rally can run, especially in the face of the still-simmering European debt crisis. Bank shares, which have been a barometer of investor sentiment toward Greece and the European debt crisis, fell. "Greece is still very ...

World stocks retreated on Tuesday over concerns about the economic recovery stemming from weak U.S. retail sales on Tuesday, a day after a broad measure of U.S. equities notched an almost seven-month high. The euro also fell on concerns about Europe and the ongoing Greek debt crisis. The S&P 500 index has risen more than 25 percent from its recent low in early October, leading investors to question how much further the rally can run, especially in the face of a still-simmering European debt crisis. The retail sales data curbed the appetite for risky assets and added to concerns following Moody's credit downgrade late Monday on six euro zone countries and its credit warning on France, Britain and Austria. U.S. retail sales increased 0.4 percent in January, the Commerce Department said, ...

The euro rose to a session high and shares reversed early losses after key German data bolstered hopes that Europe's largest economy was recovering and a strong Italian bond sale added to signs that financing pressures were being contained. Those factors revived sentiment after a raft of euro zone credit downgrades and warnings on the AAA ratings of France, Britain and Austria from Moody's, which hit European markets early on. U.S. stock index futures pointed to Wall Street extending Monday's gains with U.S. retail sales data for January expected to support the growing confidence that growth in the world's top economy was improving. Germany's ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment suggested the recovery, which slowed at the end of last year, is back on track there and that analysts are ...

Fundamental Analysis EUR German exports declined more rapidly than economists predicted in December as debt crisis harmed the export demand across the troubled region. Exports lost 4.3% compared to November when they added 2.6%. In contrast, analysts predicted only a 1% decline in European biggest economy's exports. Nevertheless economists suggest the German exports may gain momentum in 2012 as business confidence surged in January. USD Coca-Cola the world's biggest soft-drink producer, reported higher than expected 4th quarter profit as juices and teas stimulated sales in Asia. Profits totalled 79 US cents per share compared to 77 cents a share predicted by analysts. Coca Cola shares gained 1.3% on the announcement. Company's stocks advanced 6.4% in 2011. GBP UK FTSE 100 Index opened ...

(Reuters) - Japanese authorities, while reluctant to act now, may consider engaging in a rare intervention to stem yen rises against the euro if the moves appear to be driven by speculators and sharp enough to severely hurt business sentiment. If they were to act, authorities will step directly into the euro-yen market despite its low trading volume and may twin it with dollar-yen intervention to maximize the effect, say sources with direct knowledge of government tactics and market players. "Technically it's possible. People talk about the euro-yen market being too small, but that's not an obstacle," said a policymaker with direct knowledge of the matter. Another source expressed a similar view. Both declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the subject. While policymakers do not ...

The euro fell on Monday as European Central Bank President Mario Draghi stressed the risks to euro zone economic growth arising from the region's debt crisis and dampened hopes for more aggressive bond purchases that have helped keep yields under control. The death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il supported a safety bid for the U.S. dollar, with investors selling Asian currencies as well as the Australian and New Zealand dollars. His death over the weekend raised questions about who is in real control of the nuclear renegade state. In late afternoon trading, the euro was down 0.3 percent at $1.29980 against the dollar, within a cent of the 11-month low touched last week. The euro, which fell on Monday after two days of gains, posted a low of $1.29830 on trading platform EBS. An ...

(Reuters) - Concerns the euro zone debt crisis will damage global growth kept the euro near 11-month lows on Monday, while the safe-haven dollar got support from an uncertain climate after the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. The euro was also under pressure after Fitch's warning on Friday that it could downgrade France and six other euro zone countries because it said a comprehensive solution to the region's debt crisis is "technically and politically beyond reach. The currency was also hurt by Moody's cut of Belgium's rating by two notches to Aa3 from Aa1 on Friday, citing risks to economic growth and the costs of bailouts of banks such as Dexia (DEXI.BR). The greenback was supported by safe-haven flows after North Korean state television reported the death of Kim Jong-il . ...