Fears that the government will intervene in an attempt to weaken the yen saw the currency fall from its 15-year high against the dollar. The yen slid 0.7 percent to 81.40 against the dollar at 8:28 a.m. in New York, from 80.81 yen yesterday, when it reached 80.41 yen, the strongest level since April 1995.
“There is some underlying nervousness about intervention,” said Daragh Maher, deputy head of global foreign-exchange strategy at Credit Agricole SA in London. “The market got a little more edgy” as the yen neared 80 per dollar, Maher said.
Source: Bloomberg
Latest figures show the UK economy grew at a rate of 0.8 percent in the third quarter easily surpassing the 0.4 percent predicted by analysts. The increase also follows a 1.2 percent jump in the second quarter.
“This is the second major GDP growth surprise in a row and suggests that the UK economy is more resilient than many had feared,” said James Knightley, economist at ING. “The government will no doubt take this as a sign that the private sector can fill the gap created by public sector cuts, but with consumer confidence, hiring intentions surveys and housing activity data all softening we remain cautious.”
Source: BBC News
Encouraging data from the European bank stress tests, and a growing demand for euros from Asian central banks, has helped push the euro to an eleven-week high against the dollar. This, combined with mounting evidence that the US economy is slowing, has investors turning to the European currency, and by 7:30 am EDT, the euro was up 0.6 percent to $1.3075, just shy of a high of $1.3091, its strongest since May 10. Traders said stop-loss orders were triggered above $1.3050, accelerating the currency’s gains, with options barriers seen at $1.3100.
“Data in the euro zone for now is pretty resilient and at the margins that argues for euro/dollar to edge higher, though people are pretty cautious at these levels,” said Tom Levinson, currency strategist at ING.
Source: Reuters
Encouraging data from the European bank stress tests, and a growing demand for euros from Asian central banks, has helped push the euro to an eleven-week high against the dollar. This, combined with mounting evidence that the US economy is slowing, has investors turning to the European currency, and by 7:30 am EDT, the euro was up 0.6 percent to $1.3075, just shy of a high of $1.3091, its strongest since May 10. Traders said stop-loss orders were triggered above $1.3050, accelerating the currency’s gains, with options barriers seen at $1.3100.
“Data in the euro zone for now is pretty resilient and at the margins that argues for euro/dollar to edge higher, though people are pretty cautious at these levels,” said Tom Levinson, currency strategist at ING.
Source: Reuters
The number of new claims for jobless benefits for the week ended July 24th, fell by 11,000 from the week before to 457,000 new claims. Overall however, the number of people receiving unemployment benefits increased raising concerns that job growth in the US is slowing.
“It does feel like there’s been a little bit of a deceleration in the pace of hiring,” Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Pierpont Securities LLC in Stamford, Connecticut, said before the report. “It relates to a lot of fear and uncertainty around the sustainability of the recovery.”
Source: Bloomberg
