EUR/USD
Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos faces a vote of confidence in his six-day old government today as he races to secure financing designed to avert a collapse of the economy and keep Greece in the euro. Lawmakers in parliament will cast their ballots in a roll-call vote, giving the 64-year-old premier a three-month mandate to implement budget measures and ensure a bailout of 130 billion Euros ($176 billion) agreed to with euro partners on Oct. 26. Three of the five parties in the legislature backed his appointment, representing more than 250 of the 300 seats. “What is being created here is a final chance for our country, a chance that must be exploited to the utmost, “Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said late yesterday. “This government has a specific mandate. It is of limited duration, yes, obviously, but it has historic potential.”Papademos formed a government on Nov. 11 after four days of political arguing that followed global turmoil sparked by former Prime Minister George Papandreou’s plans for a referendum on the terms of the second European bailout. The plan, later dropped, roiled markets and angered Greeks and EU partners. The first job for Papademos is to secure an 8 billion-euro loan installment under a previous 110 billion-euro EU-led rescue, which must be paid before the middle of December to prevent a collapse of the economy. Gross domestic product shrank 5.2 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, the Hellenic Statistical Authority said yesterday.
GBP/USD
Aviva Plc, the U.K.’s second-biggest insurer by market value, plans to cut about 380 jobs after the termination of a joint venture with Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc.The job losses will affect almost 70 percent of the 550 employees working in Aviva’s administration center at Trinity Quay in Bristol, England, the London-based insurer said today in an e-mailed statement. Aviva employs about 19,000 people in the U.K.The insurer last year ended a partnership with RBS to underwrite, administer and sell life insurance, income protection and pension products, replacing it with a distribution agreement. The company will manage the old policies through its existing U.K. administration centers in York, Norwich and Sheffield, it said. “The loyal and skilled workforce do not deserve to see their site closed, or lose their jobs,” David Fleming, national officer of Unite, the U.K.’s biggest private-sector trade union, said in a statement. “Unite members in Bristol will be stunned by the announcement which leaves them facing a very uncertain future, at a time when Aviva is making robust profits.” Aviva will keep about 60 underwriters and claims assessors in Bristol and will find jobs for a further 80 employees. The insurer last month announced plans to cut 950 jobs in Ireland after reversing a decision to move its European headquarters to Dublin. Operating profit in the first half rose 5.3 percent to 1.34 billion pounds ($2.1 billion), beating analysts’ estimates, the company said Aug. 4.
USD/JPY
Tokyo Stock Exchange Group Inc.dropped plans to sell shares to the public while it is in talks to buy a controlling stake in Osaka Securities Exchange Co., a person with direct knowledge of the matter said. The TSE will forgo an initial offering during negotiations to purchase as much as 66.6 percent of its rival by mid-2012, said the person, who declined to be named because the discussions are private. Osaka Securities’ shares climbed 13 percent last week, the most since February. Japan’s biggest bourses are discussing a merger after the country lost its place as the world’s second-largest equity market to China. A combination would give the 133-year-old Tokyo venue, home to Sony Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp., access to Osaka’s derivatives trading system and may create the world’s seventh-largest exchange company by share value. More than $30 billion in bourse mergers have been proposed worldwide since October 2010. “They’ve got to broaden and go more globally to enhance their businesses,” Keith Wirtz, who oversees $14.6 billion including NYSE Euro next stock as chief investment officer at Fifth Third Asset Management in Cincinnati, said in a telephone interview. “I take that as a sign it’s a first-order priority and a step in the direction of globalization.”Tokyo’s push for an IPO has been an obstacle to a merger that was first publicly discussed in March, according to the person. A share offering would mean that a merger couldn’t be completed without Osaka being completely swallowed by Tokyo, an outcome opposed by the smaller bourse’s shareholders and some of its listed companies, the person said.
USD/CAD
Canada’s dollar depreciated against its U.S. counterpart for a second day on concern the sovereign debt crisis in Europe is spreading, reducing demand for higher returning assets. The currency weakened to almost the lowest level in more than a month versus the greenback as the cost of insuring French bonds climbed to a record and Spanish yields rose at an auction. A government report showed Canadian factory sales rose a third straight month in September, advancing twice as fast as economists forecast, on gains by petroleum refineries and transportation products such as airplanes and motor vehicles.“In this environment, its fear over fundamentals,” said Jack Spitz, managing director of foreign exchange at National Bank of Canada in Toronto, in a telephone interview. “Fear is typically coming on the back of euro-zone headline releases that deal with peripheral debt issues, spreads and bond auctions.” Canada’s currency dropped 0.5 percent to C$1.0213 per U.S. dollar at 12:34 p.m. in Toronto, after dropping as much as 0.9 percent to C$1.0263. The currency touched C$1.0266 on Nov. 10, the weakest level since Oct. 13. One Canadian dollar buys 97.91 U.S. cents. Canadian government bonds climbed, pushing the benchmark two-year yield down one basis point, or 0.01 percentage point, to 0.89 percent. Canadian two-year securities yielded 66 basis points more than equivalent-maturity U.S. securities, the tightest so-called spread since Oct. 5.
Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos faces a vote of confidence in his six-day old government today as he races to secure financing designed to avert a collapse of the economy and keep Greece in the euro. Lawmakers in parliament will cast their ballots in a roll-call vote, giving the 64-year-old premier a three-month mandate to implement budget measures and ensure a bailout of 130 billion Euros ($176 billion) agreed to with euro partners on Oct. 26. Three of the five parties in the legislature backed his appointment, representing more than 250 of the 300 seats. “What is being created here is a final chance for our country, a chance that must be exploited to the utmost, “Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said late yesterday. “This government has a specific mandate. It is of limited duration, yes, obviously, but it has historic potential.”Papademos formed a government on Nov. 11 after four days of political arguing that followed global turmoil sparked by former Prime Minister George Papandreou’s plans for a referendum on the terms of the second European bailout. The plan, later dropped, roiled markets and angered Greeks and EU partners. The first job for Papademos is to secure an 8 billion-euro loan installment under a previous 110 billion-euro EU-led rescue, which must be paid before the middle of December to prevent a collapse of the economy. Gross domestic product shrank 5.2 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, the Hellenic Statistical Authority said yesterday.
GBP/USD
Aviva Plc, the U.K.’s second-biggest insurer by market value, plans to cut about 380 jobs after the termination of a joint venture with Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc.The job losses will affect almost 70 percent of the 550 employees working in Aviva’s administration center at Trinity Quay in Bristol, England, the London-based insurer said today in an e-mailed statement. Aviva employs about 19,000 people in the U.K.The insurer last year ended a partnership with RBS to underwrite, administer and sell life insurance, income protection and pension products, replacing it with a distribution agreement. The company will manage the old policies through its existing U.K. administration centers in York, Norwich and Sheffield, it said. “The loyal and skilled workforce do not deserve to see their site closed, or lose their jobs,” David Fleming, national officer of Unite, the U.K.’s biggest private-sector trade union, said in a statement. “Unite members in Bristol will be stunned by the announcement which leaves them facing a very uncertain future, at a time when Aviva is making robust profits.” Aviva will keep about 60 underwriters and claims assessors in Bristol and will find jobs for a further 80 employees. The insurer last month announced plans to cut 950 jobs in Ireland after reversing a decision to move its European headquarters to Dublin. Operating profit in the first half rose 5.3 percent to 1.34 billion pounds ($2.1 billion), beating analysts’ estimates, the company said Aug. 4.
USD/JPY
Tokyo Stock Exchange Group Inc.dropped plans to sell shares to the public while it is in talks to buy a controlling stake in Osaka Securities Exchange Co., a person with direct knowledge of the matter said. The TSE will forgo an initial offering during negotiations to purchase as much as 66.6 percent of its rival by mid-2012, said the person, who declined to be named because the discussions are private. Osaka Securities’ shares climbed 13 percent last week, the most since February. Japan’s biggest bourses are discussing a merger after the country lost its place as the world’s second-largest equity market to China. A combination would give the 133-year-old Tokyo venue, home to Sony Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp., access to Osaka’s derivatives trading system and may create the world’s seventh-largest exchange company by share value. More than $30 billion in bourse mergers have been proposed worldwide since October 2010. “They’ve got to broaden and go more globally to enhance their businesses,” Keith Wirtz, who oversees $14.6 billion including NYSE Euro next stock as chief investment officer at Fifth Third Asset Management in Cincinnati, said in a telephone interview. “I take that as a sign it’s a first-order priority and a step in the direction of globalization.”Tokyo’s push for an IPO has been an obstacle to a merger that was first publicly discussed in March, according to the person. A share offering would mean that a merger couldn’t be completed without Osaka being completely swallowed by Tokyo, an outcome opposed by the smaller bourse’s shareholders and some of its listed companies, the person said.
USD/CAD
Canada’s dollar depreciated against its U.S. counterpart for a second day on concern the sovereign debt crisis in Europe is spreading, reducing demand for higher returning assets. The currency weakened to almost the lowest level in more than a month versus the greenback as the cost of insuring French bonds climbed to a record and Spanish yields rose at an auction. A government report showed Canadian factory sales rose a third straight month in September, advancing twice as fast as economists forecast, on gains by petroleum refineries and transportation products such as airplanes and motor vehicles.“In this environment, its fear over fundamentals,” said Jack Spitz, managing director of foreign exchange at National Bank of Canada in Toronto, in a telephone interview. “Fear is typically coming on the back of euro-zone headline releases that deal with peripheral debt issues, spreads and bond auctions.” Canada’s currency dropped 0.5 percent to C$1.0213 per U.S. dollar at 12:34 p.m. in Toronto, after dropping as much as 0.9 percent to C$1.0263. The currency touched C$1.0266 on Nov. 10, the weakest level since Oct. 13. One Canadian dollar buys 97.91 U.S. cents. Canadian government bonds climbed, pushing the benchmark two-year yield down one basis point, or 0.01 percentage point, to 0.89 percent. Canadian two-year securities yielded 66 basis points more than equivalent-maturity U.S. securities, the tightest so-called spread since Oct. 5.
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