Currencies

• EUR/USD The euro fell to a seven-week low against the dollar on concern European finance ministers meeting today and tomorrow will fail to quell speculation Greece will have to restructure its debt.
  • The euro dropped to $1.4090 as of 1:57 p.m. in Tokyo from $1.4119 in New York on May 13.


• USD/JPY and the JPY crosses went their separate ways early in the session, with USD/JPY on better bid and the crosses seeing renewed weakness on continuing risk off sentiment.
  • USD/JPY fell early to 80.63 on a noticeable lack of demand but later reached 81.07.


• GBP/USD Concerns of slowing growth in the UK economy weigh on the GBP, but deepening peripheral European debt crisis is encouraging EUR/GBP selling flows from time to time to give the GBP some support.
  • The GBP/USD opened the Asian session around 1.6200 and proceeded to trade down to 1.6166 in early Asia.

Commodities

• Gold and silver snapped up last week with demand surge coming from Indians as western investors cut exposure.
  • Gold futures for June delivery was trading closed to $1492.300 around 7 a.m. London time.

• Oil dropped for the first day in three in New York after President Barack Obama said failure to raise the U.S. debt ceiling may unravel global finances and threaten growth in the world's biggest crude consumer.
  • Crude for June delivery slid as much as $1.30 to $98.35 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $98.79 at 1:06 p.m.

Equities

• U.S.stocks declined, giving the Standard & Poor's 500 Index a second straight weekly loss, as concern over Europe's debt crisis deepened and inflation reports spurred speculation global interest rates will rise.
  • Citigroup Inc., the most-traded U.S. stock in 2011, led financial shares in the S&P 500 to the biggest drop among 10 industries, falling 8.1 percent after a 1-for-10 reverse split.
  • The S&P 500 lost 0.2 percent to 1,337.77 last week, including the biggest one-day decline since March.
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 42.99 points, or 0.3 percent, to 12,595.75.


• European stocks markets fell on Friday as worries about sovereign debt trumped strong results from EADS and faster-than-expected economic growth in France and Germany.
  • The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid around 0.3 percent.
  • France's CAC 40 Index dropped 0.1 percent and Germany's DAX Index fell 0.5 percent.


• Asian stocks fell, set for the biggest three-day drop since the aftermath of Japan's record earthquake, on concern over Greece's debt crisis, and after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. downgraded Japanese and Korean shares.
  • Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average sank 0.6 percent.
  • Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.2 percent after the government raised its inflation forecast.

Sources: Bloomberg, FT