Currencies

• EUR/USD The 17-nation currency declined against the greenback after S&P downgraded Spain to AA- from AA with a negative outlook, but rebounded in the early trading hours of Friday.
  • Spain's rating has been lowered by S&P three times since 2009, when the country lost its AAA status.
  • The shared currency was at $1.38069 around 7:15 a.m. London time from $1.3777.
  
  

• USD/JPY The dollar is seen ranging against the Yen within the range 76.837-76.980.
  • The greenback bought 76.92 yen around 7:30 a.m. London time.
  
  

• USD/CAD Canada's dollar weakened versus its U.S. counterpart as declines in commodities and stocks weakened the interest for currencies tied to global economic growth.
  • The Canadian currency fell 0.4 percent to C$1.0209 per U.S. dollar at 5 p.m. in Toronto.

Commodities

• Gold fell, as a stronger dollar and losses in other markets pressured prices lower.
  • The gold contract for October delivery settled down $14, or 0.8%, at $1,667.30 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

• Oil declined as investors bet that demand will weaken on signs of slowing U.S. fuel consumption and a worsening debt crisis in Europe.
  • U.S. crude inventories climbed 1.34 million barrels last week and total products supplied, a measure of fuel use, slid an average 364,000 barrels a day.
  • Crude for November delivery dropped as much as 46 cents to $83.77 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $84.01 at 12:07 p.m. Sydney time.

Equities

• US Stocks fell amid lower earnings from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and concern equities rose too much on optimism about Europe's debt crisis.
  • JPMorgan dropped 4.8 percent after reporting a 33 percent profit decline.
  • The S&P 500 retreated 0.3 percent to 1,203.66 at 4 p.m. New York time.
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 40.72 points, or 0.4 percent, to 11,478.13 today.


• European stocks fell as Chinese exports slowed and the European Central Bank warned imposing further losses on holders of Greek debt posed a risk to the euro area's financial stability.
  • Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI) dropped 3.2 percent to 22.50 euros and Commerzbank AG (CBK), Germany's second- biggest lender, slipped 4.8 percent to 1.76 euros.
  • The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid 0.7 percent.
  • France's CAC 40 Index and Germany's DAX Index both slipped 1.3 percent.

• Asian stocks fell after credit- rating downgrades of Spain and European banks fueled concern the region's debt crisis slow global growth.
  • The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 0.7 percent to 116.89 as of 1:38 p.m. in Tokyo.
  • Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 0.7 percent.
  • Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 1.4 percent and China's Shanghai Composite Index slid 1.1 percent.

Sources: Bloomberg, FT