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23:51 Friday 9 July, 2010

UK inflation has been above target for some time and the increase in VAT is likely to keep the headline rate of inflation uncomfortably high, Brian Coulton from Fitch told CNBC Friday.

23:45 Friday 9 July, 2010

U.S. stocks fluctuated between small gains and losses Friday as investors hesitated from making major bets ahead of the second-quarter earnings season starting Monday.

The action comes as traders look ahead to the second-quarter reporting season, which is set to be kicked off Monday afternoon by Alcoa.

The earnings results are seen as the market's next potential catalyst and rising expectations for them helped lift the market this week, but investors are now getting nervous about moving stocks up for a fourth-straight day before the reports begin.

20:21 Friday 9 July, 2010

Asia is set to see a V-shaped recovery, says Peter Redward, head of research for emerging markets Asia, Barclays Capital. He shares his outlook for the region, with CNBC's Karen Tso, Martin Soong & Bernard Lo.

20:18 Friday 9 July, 2010

China once again avoided Thursday the label of currency manipulator that would have made the country a target for punitive actions from Congress.

In a long-awaited report, the Treasury Department declined to officially cite China for manipulating the foreign-exchange value of its currency even though the country had maintained a de-facto peg to the dollar since mid-2008 until last month.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner had engineered a delay of the currency report to give China space to move on its foreign-exchange policy.

This maneuver paid off just prior to the Group of 20 leaders' summit in Toronto last month when China announced it would allow its currency to move against the dollar.

15:38 Friday 9 July, 2010

Shaun Cochran, head of research, Korea at CLSA, expects the Bank of Korea to hold rates at 2% as he foresees more hurdles ahead for the Asian economy. He tells CNBC's Karen Tso and Bernard Lo that the slowdown in Europe will directly hit Korean exporters.

15:33 Friday 9 July, 2010

The dollar rose against the yen in Asia Friday as Japanese importers settled accounts while funds in the region largely stood on the sidelines.

These short-term-focused investors refrained from active trading because they were waiting for the outcome of Japan's Upper House elections to be held Sunday. Tokyo dealers said the result will likely set the yen's trading direction.

The ruling Democratic Party of Japan and its coalition must win 56 seats to maintain its Upper House majority. This is a crucial task for Prime Minister Naoto Kan--who is considered an aggressive fiscal reformer--because his first term as head of the DPJ, and thus the premier, will expire on Sept. 30.

15:26 Friday 9 July, 2010

Asia stocks rose to a two-week high, led by emerging markets, copper gained and the yen weakened as concern about the global recovery receded. The won strengthened after South Korea unexpectedly raised interest rates.

Central banks in South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and India raised rates in the past 15 days, signaling Europe’s debt crisis won’t derail economic growth. European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said yesterday that the recovery is gaining momentum and the International Monetary Fund raised its estimate for global growth this year. Reports today are forecast to show Italian and French manufacturing expanded.

“Interest rate increases by some countries in Asia reflect their confidence in the economic outlook,” said Kim Yong Tae, who helps manage the equivalent of $2.9 billion at Yurie Asset Management Co. in Seoul. “If there are signs that the European sovereign debt crisis will be resolved there will be a domino effect for emerging economies to normalize interest rates.”

10:19 Friday 7 July, 2010

Insight on whether Timothy Geithner's 20-20 tax limits for capital gains and dividends signals a major shift towards investors, with Heather Boushey, Center for American Progress and Dan Clifton, Strategas Research Partners.

10:13 Friday 9 July, 2010

The dollar declined against the euro on Thursday after European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet calmed investors' concerns about European bank stress tests and the central bank's liquidity programs.

Besides the ECB leaving its key lending rate at an all-time low, U.K. monetary-policy makers also left interest rates unchanged, weighing on the British pound.

Positive employment data in the U.S. and Australia also encouraged investors to move away from the safe havens of the dollar, Japanese yen and gold and into equities.

08:07 Friday 9 July, 2010

Discussing mounting fears of a douple-dip recession, with Alan Greenspan, former Federal Reserve chairman and CNBC's Maria Bartiromo.

08:03 Friday 9 July, 2010

Gold futures edged lower on Thursday as investors turned their attention to riskier bets such as stocks and oil and the euro strengthened mildly during the session.

Gold for August delivery declined $2.80, or 0.2%, to $1,196.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, keeping under the $1,200 mark for third time in a row.

"Recent gold buying had been on fear, with the euro being a sector of major concern," said Adam Klopfenstein, senior market strategist at Lind-Waldock in Chicago.

07:59 Friday 9 July, 2010

Australia’s biggest quarterly employment gain in four years added to pressure on the central bank to resume the most aggressive round of interest-rate increases among Group of 20 members in coming months.

Investors are shifting wagers on the Reserve Bank of Australia to lift borrowing costs to combat inflation that Stevens this week forecast will surpass his target. Traders late yesterday saw an 18 percent chance of a quarter-point move Aug. 3, according to Bloomberg calculations based on interbank futures on the Sydney Futures Exchange. Prior to the jobs report, contracts signaled no chance of an increase in 2010.

“These numbers will certainly concern the RBA,” said Helen Kevans, a Sydney-based senior economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co., the only bank surveyed by Bloomberg that predicted Stevens’s decision to begin in October the first of six interest rate increases. “Wage growth inevitably will accelerate.”

07:57 Friday 9 July, 2010

China’s June export and import data may signal a return to sustained surpluses that could fuel overseas pressure for a faster pace of yuan gains.

The trade gap almost doubled to $15.6 billion last month from a year earlier, as cooling domestic investment capped imports, according to the median estimate of 24 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. That would be the third surplus after a deficit in March. The data is due tomorrow.

“The deceleration of imports may outpace that of exports in coming months, leaving sizable trade surpluses,” said Lu Zhengwei, a Shanghai-based economist at Industrial Bank Co. “Faster yuan appreciation would multiply the negative impact on exporters who are already facing weaker overseas demand and rising labor costs.”

07:53 Friday 9 March, 2010

Stocks rose, giving the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index its first three-day rally since April, and oil gained as the International Monetary Fund lifted its estimate for global growth and U.S. jobless claims decreased. Ten-year Treasury yields topped 3 percent for the first time this month.

The S&P 500 surged 0.9 percent to 1,070.25 at 4 p.m. in New York, its highest close since June 28. The euro strengthened to a two-month high above $1.27 as the European Central Bank left borrowing costs unchanged, while the Australian dollar rallied after jobs growth topped forecasts. Oil climbed for a second day and a benchmark gauge of corporate credit risk fell for a third.

“Initial jobless claims are arguably the best real-time data on the economy, the most closely watched, and seeing those come in was pretty encouraging,” said Eric Mintz, who helps manage $3 billion at Eagle Asset Management in St. Petersburg, Florida. “We’ve got a strong continuation from yesterday’s rally.”

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