Dawn of a year of trading dangerously

From Reuters Out with the old year, in with the new and for investors uncertainty is likely to be the only certainty once more. The euro zone debt crisis is far from resolved, turmoil in the Arab world has shifted to Syria and Iran has threatened to stop the flow of oil from the Gulf if sanctions are imposed due to its nuclear ambitions. 2011 was a dire year for equities outside the United States with world stocks poised to drop by around eight percent and emerging...

Gold’s ‘death cross’ signals more losses coming

From Reuters Gold’s 20-day moving average falling below its 200-day and its brief foray into a bear market suggest momentum has turned bearish and a further pullback could be on its way. Bullion’s 20-day moving average dipped below its 200 DMA on Thursday, in what technical analysts termed a ‘death cross,’ as the short-term momentum has turned more negative than long-term trend. That could show that the current downtrend is pervasive. ‘Any time there is a death cross,...

Santa rally may face test next week

From Reuters Get ready. The last trading week of the year will be a test for stocks to prove whether they have the strength to carry a rally into next year. The broad S&P 500 index broke through its 200-day moving average on Friday after turning positive for the year as a four-day rally lifted stocks following a spell of better-than-expected economic data. At Friday’s close, the S&P 500 was up 0.6 percent for the year. But despite the recent economic data...

Euro creeps higher but vulnerable into 2012

From Reuters The euro edged up versus the dollar on Friday with risk appetite underpinned by upbeat U.S. data but with the euro zone crisis unresolved, investors were likely to sell the single currency again in 2012. A drop in U.S. weekly claims for jobless benefits to a 3-1/2-year low and improved U.S. consumer sentiment in December boosted stocks and kept the euro afloat, though traders said flows were light as year-end holidays approached. The single currency...

Fragile euro edges higher, helped by U.S. data

From Reuters The euro edged up versus the dollar on Friday with risk appetite underpinned by better U.S. data, but investors were likely to sell the currency again in 2012 while the euro zone remained plagued by uncertainty surrounding its debt crisis. A drop in U.S. weekly claims for jobless benefits to a 3-1/2-year low as well as an improvement in U.S. consumer sentiment in December boosted stocks and kept the euro afloat, though traders said flows were light...

Asian shares up as US data spur year-end bounce

From Reuters Asian stocks rose more than 1 percent and U.S. index futures also gained on Friday, as signs of a strengthening economy in the United States encouraged a year-end bounce for riskier assets. European shares were also expected to open higher, helped by a 0.5 percent rise in S&P 500 index futures that pointed to further gains when U.S. trading resumes. Wall Street stocks had risen for a third straight day on Thursday, leaving the S&P 500 index...

Japan set to enter dollar swap agreement with India

From Reuters The Japan government is considering a dollar swap arrangement with India to provide emergency liquidity in case the European debt crisis reaches emerging economies, the Nikkei business newspaper reported on Sunday. The agreement would set the total swap arrangement at $10 billion, or 780 billion yen, the Nikkei said. Both countries are looking to sign off on the arrangement next Wednesday, when leaders meet at a bilateral summit, the paper said. The...

Bangladesh Bank speeds up financial inclusion, says governor Atiur Rahman

From The Daily Star Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Atiur Rahman yesterday said the central bank has intensified financial inclusion movement to ensure sustainable development. It increased credit flow to agriculture, small and medium enterprises and environment-friendly projects, he said. “The central bank has taken various steps to help the government ensure sustainable development and equitable economic growth for poverty reduction,” the governor said while addressing...

Celebrating the successes of small efforts

From The Daily Star ‘NO society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which by far the greater part of the numbers are poor and miserable’ - Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (1776). Sadly, poverty is still a scar on humanity’s face and a denial of every ‘basic human right’—health, education, housing, food, water and energy, and access to fairer banking and credit. The idea of small, ‘collateral-free’ loans for poor—developed by Nobel Peace Prize-winning Bangladeshi...

Bangladesh mobile operators’ infrastructure sharing at stake

From The Daily Star A regulatory move is holding back Bangladesh’s mobile operators’ infrastructure sharing business with other service providers. According to a decision of the regulator, the mobile companies will now have to share their network through a common network. Also, the mobile operators will not be allowed to do such business in the areas where the common network—Nationwide Telecommunications Transmission Network (NTTN) -- has coverage. Now two local...

United Airways to connect Muscat

From The Daily Star Local private carrier United Airways (BD) will open flights to Muscat in January, targeting mainly Bangladeshi migrant workers in Oman. The airline plans to start flying to the Arab state in the third week of the next month, it said in a statement yesterday. “We have obtained permission from Muscat Civil Aviation Authority to operate on the route with our own Airbus-310 having 250 seats,” said Tasbirul Ahmed Choudhury, chairman and managing director...

Low prices cut into RMG export growth: analysts

From The Daily Star A drastic reduction in prices of cotton, yarn and fabrics has slowed down export growth, analysts and exporters said. As the prices of raw materials are low, the products have become cheaper and the buyers now pay less for their garment purchase, they said. According to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) statistics, overall exports grew by only 2.4 percent in November this year compared to the same month in the previous year. The growth was 15.44...

As euro steadies, fund managers hedge bearish bets

From Reuters The European debt crisis roiled markets all year, producing the most volatile trading since the 2008-2009 meltdown. That is, except in one market -- the euro. Fund managers that bet on a volatile, wild year of losses in the euro are paring back positions against the single currency going into 2012 after its surprising resilience to Europe's sovereign debt crisis damaged their portfolios. Many still expect market turmoil arising from Europe's debt...

Helping euro states vital for Germany, says Merkel

Reuters, BERLIN, June 11: Helping indebted European countries get back on their feet is vital to Germany's economic health, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday in a message aimed at the general public. The comments come a day after Germany's parliament approved a non-binding resolution supporting extra emergency loans to fellow euro zone member Greece, but only on the condition that bondholders be made to share the bailout burden. ...

Iran says Saudi crude increase will not change market

Reuters, TEHRAN, June 11: An increase in crude output by Saudi Arabia will not change market conditions as demand is for lighter oil than it provides, Iran's OPEC governor was on Saturday quoted as saying, reiterating Tehran's stance that there is no need to boost production. At a meeting in Vienna this week, OPEC failed to agree on an increase in production, which consuming countries wanted and which leading exporter Saudi Arabia pushed for, because...

Fed prepares for last spurt of easy money flood

Reuters, NEW YORK, June 11: The flood of Federal Reserve money that has supported Wall Street and the rest of the U.S. economy for 2-1/2 years will shrink to a trickle with the conclusion of the Fed's bond purchases announced on Friday. The Fed said it will buy $50 billion of Treasuries, the final series of government bond purchases that marks the last phase of the $600 billion program it launched in November 2010 to prevent another recession....

Troubling signs point to more losses

Reuters, NEW YORK, June 11: Don't be surprised if Wall Street racks up a seventh consecutive week of losses as the likelihood of more poor economic data and other disconcerting signals outweigh any thoughts that stocks are cheap. After closing at its highest level in nearly three years on April 29, the S&P 500 (.SPX) has tumbled nearly 7 percent on the back of a barrage of soft economic data, sparking the debate over whether the economy is...

FDIC member may get top bank regulator job

Reuters, WASHINGTON, June 11: The Obama administration might nominate Federal Deposit Insurance Corp member Thomas Curry to oversee the largest banks as the next comptroller of the currency, according to a person informed about the deliberations. Curry is a former Massachusetts state banking regulator and is a member of the FDIC board, a position that he has held since January 2004. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency...

Goldman joins disclosure fight over Lehman claims

Reuters, NEW YORK, June 11: Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) and other banks fighting for control of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc's (LEHMQ.PK) bankruptcy have joined efforts to avoid sharing information about claims against the failed investment bank. In court papers filed Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, units of Goldman, Morgan Stanley (MS.N), Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE) and others said a proposal by a group of Lehman bondholders would...

Fed expanding capital tests for banks

Reuters, WASHINGTON/CHARLOTTE, North Carolina, June 11: The Federal Reserve will subject more banks to annual stress tests to determine whether they have enough capital and can raise their dividends. On Friday, the Fed said it is proposing that banks with $50 billion or more in assets be subjected to the capital testing regime, bringing the number of banks that would face annual tests, if they were conducted today, to 35 from a prior level of 19....

Fed expanding capital tests for banks

Reuters, WASHINGTON/CHARLOTTE, North Carolina, June 11: The Federal Reserve will subject more banks to annual stress tests to determine whether they have enough capital and can raise their dividends. On Friday, the Fed said it is proposing that banks with $50 billion or more in assets be subjected to the capital testing regime, bringing the number of banks that would face annual tests, if they were conducted today, to 35 from a prior level of 19....

Canada's TMX undeterred as hostile bid looms

Reuters, NEW YORK/TORONTO, June 11: The heads of TMX Group Inc (X.TO) and the London Stock Exchange Group Plc (LSE.L) said on Friday it is full steam ahead for LSE's friendly takeover of the Canadian market operator even though a hostile bid for TMX could come "any day now." The expected $3.7 billion counteroffer from the Maple Group consortium of Canadian banks and pension funds will throw a new hurdle in the path of the LSE's offer to buy the...

Lagarde in lead for IMF, South Africa's Manuel opts out

Reuters, PARIS, June 11: South Africa's Trevor Manuel ruled himself out of the race for the IMF's top job on Friday, making French finance minister Christine Lagarde an even firmer favorite, although the threat of a judicial inquiry remains. Emerging market powers like Russia, India and China say they want an end to Europe's grip on the top job at the international lender, calling time on a pact that puts the IMF in European hands while the World...