US Treasuries held steady in the wake of today’s Labor Department report indicating fewer new claims for jobless benefits than expected last week. The 30-year long bond was last up just 4/32 in price, yielding 3.57 percent, little changed in yield from Wednesday’s close. The benchmark 10-year note was flat in price, yielding 2.54 percent.
Source: Reuters
Forex settlement volumes slips in July - CLS
LONDON Aug 10 (Reuters) - The average number of daily foreign exchange payment instructions fell slightly in July from June, easing further from a record high hit in May, data from FX settlement system CLS Bank showed on Tuesday.
In an interview with China Reform magazine, Yi Gang, China’s chief currency regulator, said that China has surpassed Japan to become the world’s second-largest economy. Gang also noted that depending on how fast its exchange rate rises, China is set to overtake the US economy around 2025.
Source: Reuters
The euro has enjoyed a strong rally so far this summer. It has quietly gained on its early summer low of $11.8, and recently surpassed $1.30. Despite the recent strength of the euro, several investment firms have gone public with predictions that the euro rally is unlikely to last.
BNP Paribas for instance, suggests the euro could end 2010 at $1.08. One school of thought, is the possibility of an upswing in carry trades using the euro to finance the purchase of higher-yielding currencies.
Source: Reuters
Prices for single-family homes rose half a percent in May according to the latest Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller home index survey. The results, based on an examination of home prices in twenty US cities, showed a greater-than-expected 0.2 percent increase.
“While May’s report on its own looks somewhat positive, a broader look at home price levels over the past year still does not indicate that the housing market is in any form of sustained recovery,” David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s, said in a statement.
Source: Reuters
