Robust U.S. company earnings and surprisingly vigorous euro zone economic data generally trumped investor skepticism about European bank stress tests on Monday to lift global stocks and bolster the euro against the dollar
Investors took some reassurance that European banks had passed stress tests on their ability to deal with a debt crisis, prompting European stock futures prices to rise on Monday.
The euro edged up and Asian shares rose on Monday as solid U.S. corporate earnings and surprisingly strong euro zone data offset growing skepticism that stress tests on European banks were not strict enough.
Despite the uncertainty facing the European banking system the AUD/USD remained range bound on Friday bouncing between 0.8900 and 0.8970 for the majority of the Asian and offshore trading sessions.
The Charity Cancer Research (CCR) in Britain has reported that more women are developing womb cancer nowadays compared to 35 years ago.
What's odd about this scenario?German business confidence is soaring while U.S. consumer sentiment sinks.
Buckingham Palace said on Sunday it has launched an account with online photo management site Flickr.
Just seven European banks failed a health check and were ordered to raise their capital by 3.5 billion euros ($4.5 billion), confirming fears the continent's long-awaited stress test was too soft.
British aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce said it secured $1.7 billion in orders at the Farnborough Airshow, including deals for its Trent 700 engine, the leading engine for the Airbus A330. Rolls-Royce said on Friday it won orders totaling more than $1 billion for Trent 700s to power 17 Airbus A330s from Russia's Aeroflot and Garuda Indonesia Airlines.
Sterling is poised to build on its broad rally as investors speculate that fiscal and economic conditions in Britain will improve faster than in the euro zone or the United States.
Technical factors are also working in the pound's favour, while lower implied volatility will help the UK currency higher.
Investors are finding themselves with a new kind of balancing act -- one in which they have to juggle with three major regions posing three significantly different circumstances.
Europe's bank stress testing, the focus of much of the past week's market focus, is but one ball in the air.
Stock index futures pointed to a flat open on Friday as another batch of solid corporate results eased fears of a worsening economy, but gains were muted ahead of European stress tests results.
Stock index futures rose on Friday, as another batch of solid corporate results, including Microsoft and Ford, along with positive economic data in Europe eased fears about the strength of a recovery.
Britain's economic recovery raced ahead from April to June as the biggest jump in construction in half a century and a surge in services propelled growth at its fastest pace in four years.
Gross domestic product jumped 1.1 percent in the second quarter, data from the Office for National Statistics showed. That was almost twice the rate analysts expected and nearly four times the pace of growth in the first quarter.
Gold this week received a blow from some unexpected quarters. During the past few weeks, the driving force behind gold has been the Euro zone economic crisis. First it came from Greece then Portugal crisis helped the yellow metal gain and cross $1,200 per ounce mark and in a latest development, the Ireland financial woes boosted the gold prices.
Stock index futures rose on Friday, as another batch of solid corporate results, including Microsoft and Ford, along with positive economic data in Europe eased fears about the strength of a recovery.
Stock index futures rose on Friday, as another batch of solid corporate results, including Microsoft and Ford, along with positive economic data in Europe eased fears about the strength of a recovery.
Britain's economy grew almost twice as fast as expected in the second quarter of this year propelled by a sharp pick-up in services and the biggest rise in construction in almost 50 years.
Another strong data release boosted the euro on Friday when the German Ifo index came in above forecasts, but analysts said there were downside risks for the currency, even if bank stress test results were benign.
Ifo said the German Business Climate Index for July was 106.2, beating a consensus for 101.6 and pushing the euro to a session high versus the dollar of $1.2967 EUR=.
Brazil's Green Party presidential candidate is hoping her use of social media will help boost her low poll numbers before October's election as she seeks to close the gap with the two front-runners.
Dividend payments by London-listed companies will fall 6.5 percent this year, mainly because BP suspended payouts after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Capita Registrars Dividend Monitor said.
After looking vulnerable to more downside in Asia yesterday the Aussie dollar found intraday support at 0.8735 going on to reverse its trajectory and rally during the European time-zone to retest what had been strong resistance around 0.8750.
