Spain's government has doubled loans for 17 semi-autonomous regions to 41 billion Euros, as local authorities failed accessing capital markets to get debt redemptions, defray suppliers and fund the deficits. Terms of the backstops determine that in the case of region's default government would get repaid before existing bondholders.
The number of jobless people increased by a seasonally-adjusted 7,000 to 2.89 million, the adjusted unemployment rate held at 6.8%, the Federal Labor Agency announced on Tuesday. In July, German business confidence dropped to the lowest in two years amid market confusion and the Eurozone recession. The European Commission estimated a 0.3% decline for Eurozone economy in general.
Italy's jobless rate climbed to a seasonally-adjusted 10.8%, record high since the Q3 of 1999, Istat reported on Tuesday. Italy's economy slipped for a third quarter amid intensifying Europe' debt crisis and Mario Monti's austerity actions, which deepened countries recession. Youth was hit the most, with unemployment among people between the ages of 15 and 24 at 34.3% in June.
On Tuesday, The National Bank of New Zealand reported a net 15.1% of business outlook survey respondents expect economic situation to develop during next 12 month, compared with 12.6% in June. A net 24.0% of enterprises await their own conditions to improve. Net confidence is calculated as the percentage of pessimists deducted from the percentage of optimists.
Three stocks dropped for every two that gained on the U.S. exchanges amid doubts that the two-day rally of S&P 500 had outperformed economic reality. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 0.1% to 1,385.30, after climbing 3.6% in two days.The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped less than 0.1% to 13,073.01.
German retail sales dropped third month in a row in June on concerns about the results of the Eurozone crisis. On Tuesday, the Federal Statistics Office reported that sales, adjusted for seasonal swings and inflation, decreased 0.1% from May, when they tumbled 0.3%. While entrepreneurs' and investors' confidence slipped in July, consumer sentiment is expected to hit five-month high.
Canada's Dollar hit the highest in almost 11 weeks against the U.S Dollar on beliefs that Federal Reserve will act further to boost U.S. economy and ECB will undertake extra monetary stimulus. The Loonie increased 0.2% to C$1.0016 per U.S. Dollar, it buys 99.84 U.S. cents. The last time parity between the two occurred was May 15, when the Loonie
Global grain trade is expected to fall 4.9% in the 2012-13 marketing year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports. Arid weather from Europe to Australia and the worst drought in U.S. in more than 50 years determines potential decline in grain cargoes and unprofitable rates for cargoes' owners. Baltic Exchange data shows 17% drop in estimated forward delivery agreements for
The Aussie touched a four-month high after a report revealed the number of nation's building permits tumbled 2.5% in June, less than economists estimated. The Australian Dollar rose 0.1% to $1.0517, after touching the highest since March 27. Australia's 10-year bond yields dropped to 3.11%.
Eurozone economic confidence declined more than expected, falling to the lowest level in almost 3 years in July, indicating economic recession extended into the Q3 as policy makers have been struggling to combat the debt crisis. Executive and consumer sentiment index dropped from 89.9 to 87.9 in June, the lowest level since September 2009.
Japan's unemployment rate unexpectedly fell by 0.1% to 4.3% in June, beating economists' expectations, who estimated the rate to remain unchanged at 4.4%. This is an optimistic sign for the Japanese economy, which is struggling with the Yen's strengthening 6 % against the US Dollar since March and curbing export demand due to the Eurozone debt crisis.
South Korea's industrial output fell 0.4% in June for the first time in 3 months, after climbing 1.3% in May. The decline of the industrial production was caused by the worsening Eurozone debt crisis and China's slowing economy, which curbed export demand. Manufacturer's confidence declined to a 3-year low for August, after the slowest economic growth in 3 years.
The Fed's Chairman Ben Bernanke might reduce interest rate on bank reserves to decrease short-term borrowing costs and stimulate the U.S. expansion. Bernanke said that cutting the interest rate from 0.25% is one of the easing steps of the Fed to lower the unemployment, which has been above 8% for more than 3 years.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner have called for a closer cooperation to stabilize the world and European economy. The top officials supported sale of bonds in Ireland, welcomed success of Portugal in meeting the programme requirements. Moreover, they discussed efforts made by Italy and Spain to carry out structural and fiscal reforms.
According to the Chrysler Group LLC quarterly report, the automaker ended second quarter with $436 million in net income, compared to $370 million loss a year earlier. Sales jumped 23 per cent to $16.8 billion, while sales of passenger cars in the U.S. soared 42 per cent. Net industrial debt declined to $432 million, compared to $1.3 billion at the end of the
The European Central Bank to reveal some bold actions on Thursday, including the interest rate decision, resume of bond-buying program and even the announcement of quantitative easing is possible. Last Thursday Mario Draghi pledged to support the shared currency, with the ECB to resume bond-buying program as the yields on Spanish and Italian bonds reached Eurozone's record levels.
On Monday, July 30, copper ended a three-day rally as investors awaited the ECB and the Fed meetings on Thursday and Tuesday, respectively. Copper futures for September settlement erased 0.2 per cent to $3.419 per pound after adding 2.2 per cent in longest rally since the middle of June. Meanwhile, other metals like aluminum, tin, nickel, zinc and lead advanced during today's London's trading session.
Inflation rate in the country with the world's second biggest economy is expected to ease in July, as food prices were lower this month. China's consumer price Index may fall to 1.7 per cent, the 30-month low. In order to boost the economy, the monetary policy may cut the benchmark interest rate and reserve requirement ratio during the third quarter.
Oil futures for September settlement erased 0.2 per cent to $89.92 per barrel during today's New York trading session in anticipation of Fed's meeting on Tuesday. As to other oil related products, gasoline for August delivery advanced 0.8 per cent, to $2.91 per gallon; heating oil for August settlement declined by 0.24 per cent to $2.88 per gallon, while September natural gas soared 5 per
The Euro lost some ground versus the U.S. dollar as investors are getting more pessimistic about ECB's policy actions later this week. The shared currency dropped by 0.4 per cent to $1.2251, from Friday's $1.2320. On the contrary, the ICE dollar Index added 0.42 per cent to 82.895, and the WSJ dollar Index increased by 0.28 per cent. On Thursday, the European Central Bank's monthly
European stocks advanced on Monday, as region's leaders claimed about their readiness to curb the Eurozone's debt crisis. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index jumped 0.9 per cent to 262.23, while France's CAC 40 Index advanced 0.4 per cent to 3,292.95. At the same time, shares of Air France-KLM soared 14 per cent as the company ended second quarter with a 895 million euros loss, but
German equities surged on Monday, being boosted by the ECB pledge to preserve the Euro by any means. Recent slowdown in the US GDP growth also supported German stock index as investors hope for monetary easing by the Fed. At the same time, possible increase in Eurozone's jobless rate to 11.2% in June restricted rally of German shares. German DAX
UK stocks moved higher after Italian debt auction on Monday. Italy's 10-year bond yields declined below 6%, indicating better risk-sentiment in the market. UK's equities also continued to draw strength from global easing speculation. FTSE 100 Index climbed 0.5% to trade at 5,658.00 at the time of writing. Oil and gas and financial sectors posted the largest gains. BG and
On Monday, Spanish and Italian bond yields hit their two-week lows on promising pledges from ECB President, Germany's Chancellor and Italy's Prime Minister about preserving the Euro. Spanish 10-year bond yields dropped to 6.59%, the lowest level since July 12. Italian 10-year bond yields tumbled to 5.87%.