Market News

Following an initial rally on the news that the ECB’s latest offering had been so well received, the euphoria quickly waned as market players understood that the offer was essentially only a liquidity operation, and could not in any way solve the underlying problem of the Eurozone debt crisis.

The common currency extended Tuesday’s gains during Asian trading as investors’ hope builds that the European Central Bank’s most recent offer of longer-term loans could help the Eurozone’s banks with their liquidity problems.

In Asian trading, the Euro remained close to an 11-month trough following comments made by the head of the European Central Bank which dashed any hopes that they would take on a greater role in the resolution of the Eurozone debt crisis.

The U.S. Dollar saw gains in Tokyo trading following the news that the long-serving leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-il, has died, which lent support to the safe-haven currency.

The Euro’s slide to an 11-month low appears to have skidded to a halt, but the common currency remains vulnerable to further losses so long as the Eurozone crisis is unresolved.

The Euro managed to creep higher during the Asian trading session but still remains stubbornly close to an 11-month low which was struck on Wednesday. Market players cite ongoing worries over a Eurozone resolution as the primary reason for the sell-off.

Following the announcement by the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank that they would leave their monetary policy unchanged, the Euro sank against the greenback, and stayed close to an 11-month low.

As was generally expected, the outcome of the last European Union summit left investors unsatisfied and the Euro, as a result, fell in Asian trading against the U.S. Dollar.

After an expected ECB decision which was followed by a disappointing press conference, the Euro took a turn for the worse and struggled to find footing in Asian trade.

As markets and analysts had been expecting, earlier today the European Central Bank announced another 25 basis point reduction to its benchmark interest rates, bringing the new rate to a record low 1%. Mario Draghi, the newly installed head of the ECB who assumed the role less than two months ago, appears to have set a fairly aggressive goal to reverse the previous administration’s tight monetary policy.

The common currency Euro remains steady as the European Central Bank is set to make what many believe will be its second consecutive interest rate cut later in the trading day.

Market players remain cautiously optimistic that a resolution to the debt crisis will be provided by the Eurozone’s leadership, as they prepare to meet later this week for what is being deemed as a make-or-break E.U.

Standard & Poor’s rating agency has said that they might embark on the credit downgrade of the Eurozone members en masse, unless the Eurozone leaderships find a definitive solution to solving the debt crisis which has plagued the region for the better part of two years.

The Euro is seeing some positive momentum in the Asian trading session on investor hopes of a definitive resolution to the European debt crisis as a crucial summit begins later this week.

With market players biding their time as they await the U.S. non-farms payroll data which will be released later in the trading day, the Euro struggled to gain any footing in Asian trading. Economists expect that the U.S. Labor Department will report that 122,000 new jobs were created in November, and that the unemployment rate will be unchanged at 9.0%; the earlier released ADP data portended a positive outcome, but its never a certainty that the U.S. report will trend exactly the same.