Forex Trading News
Dollar, Euro, Pound & Yen

00:36 Saturday 17 July, 2010

Discussing whether lowering taxes will helpf stimulate job growth, with Keith Boykin, The Daily Voice and Jack Burkman, Burkman & Associates.

00:31 Saturday 17 July, 2010

U.S. consumer sentiment plummeted in early July, hitting the lowest level since August, according to survey results released Friday by Reuters and the University of Michigan.

The UMich index fell to 66.5 in early July from 76 in late June as consumers have been worried about weak hiring and a slowly healing economy. The June reading was the highest level in more than two years. The average level of the index is around 87.

The reading has only dropped this much or more seven times. The data goes back to 1978. The drop of 9.5 points in early July compares with a drop of 9.7 points following the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

22:36 Friday 16 July, 2010

Global demand for long-term U.S. financial assets slowed in May from a month earlier as investors abroad sold stocks and accumulated Treasuries at the weakest pace in a year.

Net buying of long-term equities, notes and bonds totaled $35.4 billion for the month, compared with net purchases of $81.5 billion in April, the Treasury Department reported today in Washington. Including short-term securities such as stock swaps, foreigners bought a net $17.5 billion, compared with net buying of $13 billion the previous month.

The European debt crisis led investors to buy American assets as a safe haven, and a slower pace of growth in the U.S. may deflect investment in the second half of the year. Today’s report showed net sales of U.S. stocks in May for the first time since February 2009 and the smallest net increase in purchases of Treasuries in a year.

21:03 Friday 16 July, 2010

The Nikkei 225 lost 2.9% Friday, ending at its lowest level in more than a week. The Nikkei's Aska Kondo has the details.

20:59 Friday 16 July, 2010

Oil prices inched higher on Friday, bolstered by a weaker dollar and thinking energy demand would rise as the global economy recovers. "Reports from the International Energy Agency and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries forecast that this year's demand recovery will continue into 2011," said analysts at Action Economics. Crude futures for August delivery were up 15 cents, or 0.2%, at $76.77 a barrel in electronic trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

16:59 Friday 16 July, 2010

Peter So, managing director & head of research, CCBI Securities, is overweight China's property, banking, consumer discretionary and internet stocks. He shares his investment strategy for the mainland with CNBC's Oriel Morrison.

16:55 Friday 16 July, 2010

Crude oil futures slipped Friday in Asia amid broad weakness in regional equities and long liquidation ahead of the weekend.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in August traded at $76.39 a barrel at 0544 GMT, down $0.23 in the Globex electronic session. September Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange fell $0.24 to $75.85 a barrel.

Crude rose in early Asian trade after posting moderate losses overnight in New York, but retreated into negative territory as many Asian share markets dropped.

"Sentiment has been broadly negative since yesterday's economic data from the U.S. and China signaled slower economic growth," Koichi Murakami, an analyst with Tokyo-based broker Daiichi Shohin, said.

16:48 Friday 16 July, 2010

European stock-index futures rose as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. settled with U.S. regulators and BP Plc stopped its Gulf of Mexico oil leak, offsetting disappointing earnings from Google Inc. Asian shares and U.S. futures fell.

BP may follow its U.S.-traded shares higher. Carrefour SA will probably rise after reporting better-than-estimated sales. Technology shares might retreat after Google, owner of the world’s most popular search engine, reported second-quarter profit that missed analysts’ projections. Infineon Technologies AG may be active after a newspaper reported the company isn’t in talks to sell a stake to AFK Sistema.

Futures on the Euro Stoxx 50 Index rose 0.3 percent to 2,706 at 7:30 a.m. in London. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index may open 9 points lower, according to BGC Partners. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.3 percent and MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.9 percent, led by a retreat in technology shares.

11:50 Friday 16 July, 2010

The euro on Thursday rallied to top the $1.29 level for the first time since May 10 as a successful Spanish auction eased concerns over Europe, while signs of slowing U.S. economic growth pressured the U.S. unit.

In recent action, the euro was up 1.3% at $1.2906 after rising as high as $1.2917 earlier.

Chart traders see the $1.30 level as an important test for the single currency.

11:35 Friday 16 July, 2010

Most Asian stocks fell after U.S. manufacturing contracted and wholesale prices dropped, fueling concern an economic recovery may be faltering. Technology stocks declined after Google Inc. earnings missed estimates.

Hynix Semiconductor Inc. with about 24 percent of its sales in North America, dropped 5 percent in Seoul. Sony Corp., a Japanese electronics maker that gets 22 percent of revenue in the U.S., lost 2.8 percent in Tokyo, on speculation a U.S. slowdown will crimp exports. Fanuc Ltd., which makes industrial robots, declined 3.2 percent.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.4 percent to 116.45 at 10:23 a.m. in Tokyo, with declines led by technology and consumer-related stocks. Two stocks dropped for each that rose on the measure, which fell 0.7 percent yesterday after U.S. Federal Reserve members cut their growth forecasts for the world’s biggest economy, and separate reports showed U.S. retail sales declined and China’s expansion slowed.

09:33 Friday 16 July, 2010

China’s commitment to reduce dependence on exports and investment may be challenged as the world’s third-largest economy slows more than estimated.

Industrial-production growth cooled the most since 2008 in June, government data showed yesterday in Beijing, as regulators shutter energy-intensive factories. Gross domestic product rose a less-than-forecast 10.3 percent in the second quarter from a year ago, down from 11.9 percent in January to March.

A deepening slowdown may encourage Premier Wen Jiabao’s government to focus on short-term expansion instead of heeding the Group of 20 nations’ call to shift reliance toward domestic consumers and services. Policy makers might be loath to allow the yuan to gain “significantly” as demanded by President Barack Obama when export demand is under threat from Europe’s debt crisis.

“There is a risk that China will pull back on restructuring the economy if policy makers are concerned that headline growth will fall too far,” said Brian Jackson, a Hong Kong-based emerging-market strategist for Royal Bank of Canada. He said the yuan’s gains may be affected by the outlook for demand and pressure from the U.S.

08:28 Friday 16 July, 2010

Market forecaster Charles Nenner tells CNBC why he's calling for Dow 5,000.

08:23 Friday 16 July, 2010

Stocks were lower on Thursday following signs that the recovery remains tepid, even as companies report strong earnings. So where should investors look to put their money amidst the uncertainty? Jay Leupp, senior portfolio manager at Grubb & Ellis AGA; and Harry Clark, founder, president and CEO of Clark Capital Management Group, discussed their views.

“Looking at the broader market, we see 14 to 15 percent earnings growth for the next couple of years,” Leupp told CNBC.

“We see a good value entry point here.”

08:17 Friday 16 July, 2010

Google Inc. shares slid more than 4% in late trading Thursday after the search-engine company reported second-quarter results that fell short of Wall Street expectations. Goldman Sachs shares soared on news of a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Google said second-quarter net income rose to $1.84 billion, or $5.71 a share, from $1.48 billion, or $4.66 a share, in the same period last year. Excluding special items, Google said it earned $6.45 a share while revenue totaled $5.09 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected Google to post earnings excluding items of $6.52 a share, and $4.99 billion in net revenue.

Goldman Sachs shares climbed 4.5% after the bank agreed to pay $550 million to settle a civil fraud suit by the Securities and Exchange Commission. As part of the settlement, Goldman acknowledged that marketing materials for a collateralized debt obligation it sold were "incomplete" and that it should have revealed the role hedge fund firm Paulson & Co. had in constructing the vehicle.

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