The euro hit a two-month high against the dollar on Thursday after strong Australian jobs data boosted higher-risk currencies, while investors awaited comments from the European Central Bank on bank stress tests.
European regulators haggled over how much detail to reveal about health checks on the region's lenders in a fight that may undermine the exercise's aim of restoring confidence.
Budget cuts and structural reforms will help cement economic recovery, while bank stress tests will help restore confidence, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Sunday.
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Sunday he did not believe Europe was facing recession and renewed his support for reforms and deficit cuts to boost confidence.
The U.S. dollar slipped against the euro on Friday, extending the previous day's steep losses on concerns over the U.S. economic recovery after disappointing U.S. jobs data.
U.S. private payrolls rose less than expected in June and overall employment fell for the first time this year as thousands of temporary Census jobs ended, indicating the economic recovery is failing to gain traction.
World stocks fell to three-week lows on Thursday and commodity prices sagged after data showing China's rapid growth was losing steam added to worries about the strength of the global economic recovery.
Wall Street looked set to track Asian and European peers lower with U.S. stock index futures all in the red.
Investors gave stocks and commodities a wide berth on Thursday on mounting worries about the strength of the global economic recovery after manufacturing data showed China's rapid growth was slowing.
European Central Bank officials scrambled to reassure nervous markets on Tuesday that the expiry of nearly half a trillion euros of emergency loans would not hurt the banking system, though they acknowledged some individual banks might face strain.
Strikes in Greece and Spain highlighted resistance to Europe-wide austerity measures on Tuesday as the euro and shares tumbled ahead of a deadline for banks to repay a giant European Central Bank cash injection.
The euro hit an all-time low versus the Swiss franc and an 8-1/2-year trough against the yen on Tuesday as investors worried about the expiry of a key euro zone refinancing programme this week. The yen rallied as a 2 percent fall in European shares .FTEU3 raised the safe-haven appeal of the Japanese currency, along with the Swiss franc and the dollar, while the high-risk Australian and New Zealand dollars took a beating.
Asian stocks fell on Tuesday and were on course for their worst quarterly performance since the end of 2008, while funding concerns in the euro zone sent the single currency tumbling to a record low against the Swiss franc.
Asian stocks were on course on Tuesday for their worst quarterly performance since the end of 2008, as the tepid nature of rich world's recovery from global recession keeps investors on the defensive.
Budget austerity plans will not drag the euro zone economy into stagnation, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet was quoted on Thursday as saying.
The European Union formally requested in a letter on Wednesday that the world's largest economies explore the introduction of a global tax on financial transactions.
Writing to the G20 before a summit in Toronto on June 26-27, Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the EU Council which represents EU member states, said the world needed a level playing field on bank levies and transaction taxes.
European Central Bank policymakers pressed governments on Monday to follow stricter budget rules and open their books to external monitoring as they urged a new carrot-and-stick approach to fiscal policy.
European Union leaders moved toward agreement on Thursday on ways to strengthen budget discipline and economic policy coordination among the 27 member states to contain a euro zone debt crisis.
David Cameron was all smiles when he began his first European Union summit as Britain's prime minister on Thursday but was quick to say he would defend national interests firmly.
Stocks were set to fall at the open on Wednesday as FedEx warned about higher costs, housing starts fell to a five-month low and new concerns surfaced over Spain's fiscal problems.
A modest economic recovery is taking shape in the euro zone but its countries face two major challenges: reducing their deficits and reinforcing growth, European Central Bank Governing Council member Guy Quaden said.
European policymakers sought to squash talk of a euro zone rescue for Spain on Tuesday as the country saw its borrowing costs rise in a debt auction ahead of an EU summit to discuss steps to fix the currency bloc.
Spain said on Monday that foreign banks were refusing to lend to some of its banks in the latest twist to the euro zone debt crisis, but denied it was on the brink of seeking a Greek-style European financial rescue.
It was after 1 a.m. on Monday May 10 when a little-known Dutch civil servant made the suggestion that may have saved the euro. European finance ministers had come together in Brussels late on the Sunday afternoon to thrash out a rescue package to stabilize the common currency. Unconvinced by a 110 billion euro deal for debt-laden Greece eight days earlier, the markets had knocked the euro 4 percen...
