Currencies

• EUR/USD The dollar headed for a 2 percent weekly gain after European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet signaled Thursday he was more worried about the continent's sovereign-debt crisis spreading to larger economies and bond markets.
  • The dollar traded at $1.4117 per euro as of 6:32 a.m. in London from $1.4092 yesterday.


• USD/JPY The Japanese yen rebounded against major rivals on Friday, recovering some of the post-intervention losses it suffered yesterday.
  • The dollar bought 78.61 yen from 78.89 yesterday.

• GBP/USD Sterling snapped a two-day advance versus the dollar as the Bank of England kept its main interest rate at a record low to support economic growth.
  • Sterling was trading $1.6368 around 7:30 a.m. London time after reaching $i.6438.

Commodities

• Gold climbed as investors sought a safer asset away from financial and commodity markets.
  • Bullion for immediate delivery gained 0.5 percent to $1,654.35 an ounce at 12:02 p.m. in Singapore, rebounding from a 0.3 percent loss.
  • December-delivery gold in New York was little changed at $1,656.60 an ounce, after touching an all-time high of $1,684.90 yesterday.

• Oil fell in New York on speculation fuel demand will falter as the U.S. economy weakens and the European debt crisis worsens.
  • U.S. consumer confidence slid to the lowest in more than two months.
  • 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 plunged as concern the global economy is weakening intensified.
  • Chevron Corp. (CVX), Alcoa Inc. (AA) and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX) dropped more than 4.7 percent.
  • The S&P 500 dropped 3.2 percent to 1,219.48 at 2:37 p.m. in New York.
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 334.22 points, or 2.8 percent, to 11,562.22 yesterday.


• European stocks retreated amid deepening concern that the global recovery is stalling.
  • The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and Germany's DAX Index slumped 3.4 percent.
  • France's CAC 40 Index sank 3.9 percent.

• Asian bank succumbed to heavy selling on Friday amid intensifying worries European debt problems and U.S. economic woes could tip the global economy into a double-dip recession.
  • The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slumped 3.8 percent to 125.86 as of 1:00 p.m. in Tokyo.
  • Japan's Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average sank 3.6 percent.
  • Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slumped 4.8 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1.9 percent.

Sources: Bloomberg, FT