Currencies

• EUR/USD The euro rose as German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the European Union remains committed to its shared currency as the region struggles with a debt crisis that could send Greece into default.
  • Europe's common currency advanced to $1.436 from $1.4328 yesterday.


• USD/JPY The yen weakened against the majority of currencies ahead of a no-confidence motion scheduled against Prime Minister Naoto Kan later in the day.
  • The losses occurred after Kan said he'll step down once his work to lead recovery from March's earthquake is accomplished.
  • The yen fell to 81.08 per dollar from 80.95 as of 12:42 p.m. in Tokyo.


• GBP/USD The pound declined as traders cut bets on an increase in central bank interest rates after a manufacturing index fell to a 20-month low and U.K. mortgage approvals dropped to the least in four months.
  • Manufacturing PMI came out lower as expected at 52.1.
  • The British currency slid 0.3 percent to $1.6394 as of 4:53 p.m. in London and was trading around $1.6340 at 7 a.m. London time.

Commodities

• Gold futures lost ground in electronic trading on Thursday as the U.S. dollar strengthened and stock markets across Asia headed south on concerns about global growth.
  • Gold for August delivery, the most active contract, fell $2.10, or 0.1%, to $1,541.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange during Asian trading hours

• Oil declined for a second day in New York after speculation that the fuel demand may weakened.
  • Reports showed U.S. crude supplies rose, companies added fewer jobs than forecast and global manufacturing slowed.
  • Crude stockpiles climbed the most in more than a month, according to the American Petroleum Institute and Employment rose by 38,000 in May, the smallest gain since September, ADP Employer Services said.
  • Crude for July delivery lost as much as 67 cents to $99.62 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and was at $99.84 at 11:53 a.m. Singapore time.

Equities

• U.S. declined as employers added fewer jobs and manufacturing expanded at the slowest pace in more than a year.
  • The S&P 500 retreated 2.3 percent to 1,314.55 at 4 p.m. in New York.
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 279.65 points, or 2.2 percent, to 12,290.14.


• European stock declined the most in a week after U.S. employment and manufacturing data didn't come out as forecasted and China's factory production expanded at the slowest pace in nine months.
  • China's manufacturing growth eased in May as the government extended a campaign to cool inflation and the property market.
  • The U.K.'s FTSE 100 lost 1 percent.
  • Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 each slid 1.1 percent.


• Asian stocks dropped for the first time in three days after U.S. manufacturing expanded at the weakest pace in more than a year and employers hired fewer workers than forecast, fueling concern the global economic recovery will slow.
  • So Samsung Electronics Co., the Korean consumer-electronics company that gets 85 percent of its revenue from overseas, sank 2.7 percent in Seoul and Canon Inc., the camera maker that gets most of its sales outside of Japan, slid 1.2 percent in Tokyo
  • Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average decreased 1.7 percent ahead of a no-confidence vote today on Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
  • Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 1.6 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index sank 2 percent.

Sources: Bloomberg, FT