Reuters: US Dollar Report: FOREX-Euro up vs dlr, yen as Bernanke fans QE hopes

Reuters: US Dollar Report Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

FOREX-Euro up vs dlr, yen as Bernanke fans QE hopes Mar 26th 2012, 15:40 Mon Mar 26, 2012 11:40am EDT * Bernanke says more growth needed to improve jobs picture * U.S. pending home sales data disappoint * Worries grow about Spain after election setback By Luciana Lopez NEW YORK, March 26 (Reuters) - The euro advanced against the dollar and the yen on Monday as weaker-than-expected U.S. data and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's cautious comments on the job market spurred hopes for more easing ahead, boosting riskier assets. The single currency hit a better than three-week high against the greenback and jumped more than 1 percent against the yen. Bernanke's warning that the U.S. economy needs to grow faster to get the unemployment rate down boosted hopes early in the session that the bank could yet conduct another round of quantitative easing. Disappointing home sales data reinforced that outlook later on Monday, with contracts to purchase previously owned U.S. homes unexpectedly falling in February. "All this left the market with the nagging thought that the Fed is not quite done with economic stimulus," said Boris Schlossberg, director of FX Research at GFT in Jersey City, New Jersey. "I think they have not in any way, shape or form eliminated that possibility." News from Europe also helped the single currency, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel giving veiled approval to an expected increase in the region's financial firewall this week, with finance ministers meeting in Copenhagen on March 30-31. The euro advanced 0.41 percent to $1.3325 on Monday and touched its highest since March 1. Against the yen the single currency jumped as high as 110.54 yen before more recently trading at 110.37 yen, up 1.01 percent. The dollar also slid against the Swiss franc, off 0.39 percent to 0.9042 francs. Still, analysts said the region's debt crisis is far from over. A number of events this week could help clarify how well policymakers are managing those problems, in cluding bond auctions in Italy and Spain's budget on Friday. Italy is seeking to raise up to 7.5 billion euros amid renewed pressure on peripheral euro zone debt. Worries are also growing about Spain after a government setback in regional elections, making Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's task of pushing through harsh spending cuts more difficult. "Really we've made a big stride but we haven't actually solved the problems" in the euro zone, said Camilla Sutton, chief currency strategist at Scotia Capital. The euro could see recurring bouts of selling through the year as those worries persist, she added. DOLLAR FIRMER AGAINST YEN The dollar advanced against the Japanese currency, gaining 0.62 percent to 82.82 yen. Traders said they would prefer to buy the dollar and sell the yen, with repatriation inflows ahead of the Japanese fiscal year-end on March 31 unlikely to change the bearish sentiment toward the Japanese currency over the medium term. "We are expecting the dollar/yen pair to trade in a 80-85 yen range with a risk of an upside break. A lot will depend on whether the economies outside the U.S. also pick up," said Paul Robson, currency strategist at RBS Global Banking. "As long as the U.S. economy shows signs of outperforming the others, the dollar would be supported." The growth-linked Australian dollar was up 0.64 percent at $1.0525 after a fall last week. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions