Currencies

• EUR/JPY The yen and Swiss franc weakened against most of their major counterparts amid speculation policy makers in Japan and Switzerland will take further action to stem gains in their currencies.
  • The Japanese currency declined to 110.08 per euro as of 6:42 a.m. in London from 109.30 on Aug. 12 in New York.


• EUR/USD The 17-nation euro rose to $1.4301 from $1.4248.

• GBP/USD – EUR/GBP Sterling may depreciate to 96 pence per euro by the end of 2011, London-based Gallo said by e-mail last week, from 87.78 pence today. The pound was little changed at $1.6287 as of 6:03 a.m. in London.

Commodities

• Gold declined for a third day, set for the worst run in seven weeks, as concern eased that the global economy is stalling, boosting global equities and cutting demand for haven investments.
  • Spot bullion lost 0.3 percent to $1,741.70 an ounce at 1:23 p.m. in Singapore, after shedding as much as 1.1 percent. Gold, which reached a record $1,814.95 on Aug. 11, is still 23 percent higher this year on debt woes in Europe and the U.S.

• Crude Oil fluctuated in New York, after declining for three weeks, as concern that the global economy is slowing countered a less-than-expected contraction in Japan, the world’s third-biggest consumer of crude.
  • Crude for September delivery dropped as much as $1.40 to $85.23 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and was at $85.95 at 1:15 p.m. Sydney time.

Equities

• U.S. stocks fell for a third straight week, including the biggest one-day drop since 2008, as Standard & Poor’s reduction of the nation’s credit rating and Europe’s debt crisis fueled concern the economy will falter Bank .
  • The S&P 500 lost 1.7 percent to 1,178.81 in the five days ended Aug. 12, capping a week of record swings.
  • The Dow fell 175.59 points, or 1.5 percent, to 11,269.02. Both gauges have fallen for three straight weeks.


• European stock-index futures rose.
  • FTSE 100 Index (UKX) futures rallied 1 percent.

• Asian bank rose following the longest series of weekly losses since June after U.S. retail sales increased by the most in four months and Japan’s second- quarter gross domestic product beat economist estimates.
  • The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 1.5 percent to 123.72 as of 2:13 p.m. in Tokyo.
  • Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 1.2 percent.

Sources: Bloomberg, FT