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Strategies & Market Trends : Guidance II -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: 2MAR$ who wrote (1187)	12/8/2003 7:39:59 AM
From: 2MAR$	Respond to of 2077

Stocks Dip; Record Falling Dollar Hits Exporters Monday December 8, 6:29 am ET By Nigel Stephenson LONDON (Reuters) - Stocks fell in Europe and Asia on Monday as fresh weakness in the U.S. dollar after weak U.S. jobs data on Friday sent the euro and yen soaring, hitting exporters. The weak greenback helped propel gold to its highest in eight years. U.S. Treasury yields, which posted their biggest one-day drop since September 11, 2001 on Friday, held steady in Europe and Asia ahead of Tuesday's interest rate setting meeting of the Federal Reserve. ADVERTISEMENT The dollar fell to a record low against the euro for the seventh session in a row on Monday after the jobs data, which was interpreted as indicating the world's biggest economy was not recovering as strongly as expected. "The market reacted to the headline number in a very negative fashion. In the past month virtually all U.S. data surprised on the upside so the market had high expectations," said Marvin Barth, currency economist at Citibank. The dollar fell as low as $1.2189 to the euro, according to Reuters data, bringing its losses this year to more than 16 percent. It was last at $1.2181. It hit a three-year low against the yen of 107.51 and was last at 107.57. European blue chips fell, led by exporters such as carmakers The FTSE Eurotop 300 index was down 0.71 percent and the narrower DJ Euro STOXX 50 index was off 0.93 percent. Volkswagen shares were down 1.05 percent. However, Germany's Economy Minister, Wolfgang Clement said he saw no major problems at present for the country's exporters from the euro's strength. Tokyo stocks fell more than three percent to their lowest close in two weeks, led by technology stocks. Analysts said that apart from yen strength, technical selling was also behind the market's fall. The Nikkei index ended down 3.16 percent and the broader TOPIX index closed down 2.37 percent. "If the dollar's weakness continues, that's going to direct funds away from the United States, which is going to lead to uncertainty about U.S. stocks," said Toshio Saito, general manager at Priore Asset Management. U.S. stocks fell on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial average ended down 0.69 percent and the tech-laden Nasdaq lost 1.57 percent. WALL STREET EXPECTED TO OPEN LOWER U.S. stock index futures were lower on Monday, indicating Wall Street would open slightly lower. U.S. payrolls grew just 57,000 in November, well below market forecasts. The data cemented expectations the Fed would keep rates on hold, although many analysts also believe the central bank may drop the phrase "considerable period" from its statement that policy accommodation can be maintained. The small payroll gain, suggesting recent signs of economic recovery are not feeding into job creation, ignited U.S. Treasuries on Friday, pushing the 10-year yield as low as 4.18 percent. In London, the T-note was yielding 4.24 percent, up 0.6 basis points on the day. Euro zone government bond yields were little changed. The interest rate sensitive two year Schatz yield was down 1.2 basis points at 2.64 percent, compared with Friday's two-week low of 2.626 percent.The benchmark 10-year Bund yield was up 1.9 basis points at 4.34 percent. Gold touched its highest since early 1996. A weaker dollar makes gold cheaper for holders of other currencies and technical indicators for the metal were strong. Spot gold was last at $408.30/408.80 an ounce, compared with $406.10/406.60 at Friday's New York close. Oil prices rose as a snowstorm blanketed the northeastern United States, a heavy regional consumer of heating oil and natural gas. January Brent was 33 cents higher at $29.07 a barrel and U.S. crude was up 28 cents at $31.01.