MARKETS / FINANCE

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...

Stock index futures rose on Monday, building on last week's gains and tracking higher global equities, after strong euro zone industrial data and as oil prices advanced.

The mainstream media is saturated with wayward predictions and bullish views on gold amidst in the back drop of the ongoing gold rally. Will gold really spurt as they predict in a particular time frame? Some extremely bullish forecasters foresee the possibility of $1400 to $5000 and above per ounce within a particular time frame.

Stock index futures rose on Monday, building on last week's gains and tracking higher global equities, after strong euro zone industrial data and as oil prices advanced.

Gold firmed in Europe on Monday as expectations that government measures to address elevated sovereign debt levels may ultimately prove inflationary, and as investors bet interest rates will stay low.

UBS AG's prospects hang in the balance this week as Swiss politicians vote on a tax deal that would draw a line under a legal dispute with the United States.

Canadian energy companies operating offshore could face new regulations in the aftermath of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the more aggressive oversight may put their shares at risk.

Oil prices rallied by 2 percent to $75 a barrel on Monday as renewed optimism about the global recovery boosted the outlook for fuel demand and sent Asian and European stock markets to their highest level in four weeks.

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Monday, adding to last week's gains and tracking gains in global equities, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.6 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.4 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.6 percent at 0821 GMT.

World stocks headed for a fourth straight day of gains on Monday as investors banked on global economic recovery to trump concerns such as euro zone sovereign debt in providing a positive backdrop for corporate earnings.

Good morning dear traders, welcome in a new trading week. There was not much action last Friday in EURUSD. In comparison to EURUSD the Cable had a real moving down after bad news of UK.

Europe's sovereign debt crisis has not pushed back the timing of a hike in the Federal Reserve's benchmark interest rate, St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said on Monday. Bullard, a voting member of the Fed's rate-setting panel, also said that U.S. inflation is contained now but could become a risk in the midterm due to the large U.S. budget deficit and the Fed's ultra-easy monetary policy.

The Agricultural Bank of China is seeking to raise more than $23 billion through a dual Hong Kong and Shanghai listing, according to documents on Monday, putting it on course for the world's biggest IPO.

World oil prices advanced above $74 a barrel in Asian trade Monday mainly after equity markets surged in the region. Light sweet crude for July delivery was seen trading at $ 74.71 a barrel at 12.noon Singapore time while Brent crude was at $ 75.00 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange. Equity markets across Asia gained momentum with Japan's Nikkei rose 1.7 percent as traders bet the region's strong economic growth will boost company profits.

Gold prices continued its northern journey in Asian trade Monday as the dollar weakened against a basket of currencies. Gold for immediate delivery was seen trading at $1229.18 an ounce at 12 noon Singapore time while US gold futures for August delivery was at $1230.57 an ounce.

The euro rose on Monday after a burst of short-covering lifted the single currency above $1.22 and further away from a four-year low, but traders were wary about chasing gains and expected its downtrend to continue. The Australian dollar climbed to its highest in a month above $0.8560, extending a rally from late last week on improved risk tolerance and tackling the first layer in a band of resistance at $0.8550-80 which is blocking its path to higher ground.

The euro's short-covering rally took it briefly above $1.22 to its strongest in a week on Monday, although traders were wary about driving it too far, while the Australian dollar climbed to its highest point in four weeks.

United Auto Workers delegates will gather in Detroit this week to elect new leaders as the union emerges from the U.S. auto industry's near-death experience with fewer workers, lower wages and an uncertain set of bargaining chips.

Privately held Spirit Airlines said on Sunday it has canceled flights for the next few days as a pilots' strike continued.

The strength of the euro masked underlying fiscal problems within the euro zone, the President of the European Union, Herman Van Rompuy said in an interview published on Monday.

When South Korea is faced with a severe dollar shortage in the local swap market, currency swap deals with other central banks have a far stronger effect than using its own foreign reserves, a BIS report found on Monday.

European Central Bank board member Christian Noyer on Sunday said France's aim to bring its budget deficit down to 3 percent from 8 percent of GDP by 2013 was realistic.

Inflation in the euro zone is not a worry despite the slightly higher forecasts in the recent European Central Bank staff projections, Governing Council member Athanasios Orphanides was quoted as saying on Sunday.

Qatar is expected to be the largest source of global real estate capital during 2010, real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle said in a report published on Sunday.

European Union leaders will make a new attempt this week to convince financial markets they can contain a debt crisis by agreeing how to tighten economic policy coordination and strengthen budget discipline.

The leaders of France and Germany will seek to overcome deep-rooted disagreements on European economic governance at a meeting in Berlin Monday, setting the tone for a European Union summit later this week.

European Union countries will coordinate budget plans starting next year, rather than making their own national choices, Italy's Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti said on Sunday.

Stock investors will keep a close eye on Europe this week, looking for signs the debt crisis may be stabilizing, while industrial production, housing starts and inflation data may offer more clues on the U.S. economic outlook.

Most Greeks believe the country's political system cannot tackle chronic graft and think most politicians are corrupt, an opinion poll published on Sunday showed.