Currencies

• EUR/USD The euro is headed for its longest stretch of weekly gains versus the dollar since March before a report next week predicted to show European producer-price inflation accelerated.
  • The dollar traded at $1.4484 per euro from $1.4491 yesterday, down 1.2 percent since May 27. The U.S. currency earlier reached $1.4518 per euro.


• USD/JPY The dollar fell toward a three-week low against the yen due to a report forecast to show U.S. employers added fewer jobs in May, indicating a slowing economy that may prevent the Federal Reserve from tightening policy.
  • The dollar fell to 80.72 yen as of 1:03 p.m. in Tokyo from 80.90 in New York yesterday. It was trading around 80.68 at 7 a.m. London time.


• GBP/USD The pair was little changed from yesterday.
  • It was trading around $1.6341 at 7 a.m. London time.

Commodities

• Gold futures edged lower in electronic trading on Friday as the dollar rose, but markets were cautious ahead of the release of the closely watched U.S. jobs report.
  • Immediate-delivery for gold rose as much as 0.2 percent to $1,535.88 an ounce before trading little changed at $1,532.75 at 11:37 a.m. in Singapore.

• Oil traded near $100 a barrel in New York, little changed from a week ago, before a report that will indicate the strength of the U.S. economy.
  • Crude for July delivery traded at $100.53 a barrel, up 13 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 1:54 p.m. in Sydney.

Equities

• U.S. retreated, a day after the biggest slump for the Standard & Poor's 500 Index since August, as investors awaited the Labor Department's monthly report on employment in the world's largest economy.
  • The S&P 500 fell 0.1 percent to 1,312.94 at 4 p.m. in New York.
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 41.59 points, or 0.3 percent, to 12,248.55 today.


• European stock decreased after Moody's Investors Services raised Greece's default risk to 50 percent.
  • Greece's ASE Index sank 1 percent as Moody's downgraded the nation to Caa1 from B1.
  • The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index lost 1.4 percent.
  • Germany's DAX Index slid 2 percent and France's CAC 40 Index declined 1.9 percent.


• Asian stocks swung between gains and losses as investors awaited a monthly jobs report in the U.S. that may provide further evidence the recovery in the world's largest economy is faltering.
  • The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.1 percent to 134.39 as of 2:10 p.m. in Tokyo.
  • Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average decreased 0.5 percent.
  • Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 0.3 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.9 percent.

Sources: Bloomberg, FT