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To: Mark Fowler who wrote (112827)	12/16/2000 5:25:44 AM
From: H James Morris	Respond to of 164684

>Published: December 15 2000 20:32GMT \| Last Updated: December 15 2000 23:02GMT The euro on Friday rose to its highest level since the world's main central banks intervened to halt its slide in late September, shrugging aside disappointing economic data. Concern over faltering US stocks following a profits warning from Microsoft helped the euro to climb above the $0.90 level against the dollar. Hopes that the long-suffering European currency was finally finding its feet were also kindled by a sharp rally against the yen above Y101 to its highest level in four months. In London it closed at Y100.9 and $0.898. The move came despite further evidence of slowing growth in the euro-zone from the Ifo index of German business confidence, which fell for the sixth consecutive month in November to its lowest level of the year. "Not long ago the euro was hyper-sensitive to bad news and would refuse to rise on good news," said Ray Attrill, director of research for economic consultancy 4Cast in London. "That the euro is coping well with negative news suggests confidence in the currency is finally recovering." Expectations that George W Bush would emerge victorious in the race for the US presidency had supported the dollar over recent sessions. Traders have assumed that a Republican administration would loosen the Federal purse strings, providing a spur to the slowing US economy and helping to stabilise the stock markets. But attention has shifted back to concerns over flagging consumer demand and slowing growth in corporate profits. This week's profit warnings from big US companies, culminating in Microsoft's announcement that it would miss targets for the current quarter, have unsettled investors. US equity indices fell further on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.7 per cent by midday in New York and the Nasdaq Composite index was off a further 4 per cent. The technology-led index has now lost nearly a quarter of its value since November 6, the eve of the US election. The number of profits warnings by key companies has risen sharply compared with this time last year. According to Chuck Hill, director of research at First Call/Thomson Financial, which monitors analysts' research and company earnings announcements, the number of announcements is up 70 per cent. The bad news has underlined that economic and corporate growth in the US is slowing, making dollar assets less attractive relative to the euro-zone. Meanwhile, analysts pointed to signs that the exodus of direct investment funds from the euro-zone - which has depressed the currency since its inception - may be slowing and even reversing. In the first half of December, the euro-zone has seen a E4.4bn ($3.9bn) net inflow of merger and acquisition capital - the first since April. "The scramble of European companies to buy US counterparts has been a big thorn in the euro's side," said Michael Lewis, senior economist at Deutsche Bank in London. "It looks increasingly like this will be much less of a problem over the coming year."