FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - The cross is extending its impressive upside on Thursday, sparked in late April when it was trading around 0.9810, eyeing the key level at 1.0300 as risk aversion is propelling the greenback to new highs.
In the opinion of C.Sutton, Chief Currency Strategist at Scotiabank, shrinking risk appetite, Chinese recent comments ruling out further stimulus to its economy and a mixed bag of results in the US fundamentals as of late, constitute quite a burden for the CAD.
The expert assesses that bursts of risk aversion could drive USD/CAD to 1.07 in the actual context of uncertainty aggravated by the euro zone crisis; but she goes on saying that "…however once risk aversion passes we would expect the relative fundamentals of the Canadian backdrop to shine through bringing USD/CAD back to parity…"
The next big event for the Loonie will be the BoC monetary policy meeting, due next week. Market participants expect the central bank to leave the cash rate intact at 1.0%.
Romney Clinches GOP, Raises Money With Trump - digtriad.com
(CBS News) WASHINGTON - The Republican presidential race is over.
Mitt Romney won the Texas primary Tuesday, picking up enough delegates to clinch the nomination.
CBS News estimates Romney now has 1,198 GOP delegates.
Romney didn't go to Texas Tuesday night to celebrate.
He was raising big money with Donald Trump in Las Vegas.
Everything about Trump is big, including the money he can raise for political campaigns.
The question for Romney is whether Trump can also cause some big headaches with his big mouth.
Tuesday night in Las Vegas, Romney kept his focus on President Obama and the economy.
"He's been a big disappointment, hasn't he?" Romney asked a crowd.
"Yeah!" the crowd shouted.
The former Massachusetts governor was in the swing state of Nevada attending a $2 million fundraiser hosted by Trump, who's been raising money and bringing his celebrity to Romney's campaign.
But if raising money is what Trump does best, he's also good at stirring up controversy.
And so on Romney's day, there was the billionaire big-talker continuing to question, in a phone interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, whether Mr. Obama was born in the U.S.
"A lot of people do not think it was an authentic (birth) certificate (the president released)," Trump told Blitzer.
"How could you say that if the state..." Blitzer began to ask.
" ... A lot of people do not think it was authentic," Trump insisted.
It was Trump's questions last year that prompted Mr. Obama to release his full birth certificate, which the state of Hawaii recently gave its seal of approval.
Romney has said he believes the president was born in America, but he's hasn't disavowed Trump, saying he and his supporters aren't going to agree on everything.
And at Tuesday night's fundraiser, Newt Gingrich, a former rival-turned-new-supporter, came to Romney's defense, saying, "Governor Romney's not distracted. The Republican party's not distracted. We believe that this is an American-born job-killing president; other people may believe that he was born somewhere else and still kills jobs."
Also Tuesday night, Romney got a personal introduction by Gingrich to mega-donor Sheldon Adelson who, with his wife, gave $20 million to Gingrich - the kind of money the Romney campaign could certainly use going head-to-head with the deep pockets of the Obama camp.
FOREX-Spain woes drag euro to 23-month low vs dollar - Reuters
* Spanish banking problems weigh heavily on euro
* Euro hits near 2-yr low vs dollar; dollar index at 20-mth high
* Focus on rising Spanish debt yields and risk of bailout
* Italy pays hefty price to sell bonds
LONDON, May 30 (Reuters) - The euro fell to it lowest in 23 months against the dollar on Wednesday as concerns grew about Spain's ailing banking sector and soaring borrowing costs, and after Italy was forced to pay dearly to sell debt.
The euro was seen highly vulnerable to further falls, with many analysts looking for a drop towards $1.20.
Concerns are growing that Spain may have to tap debt markets at a time when bond yields are near unsustainable levels. Market players fretted that it may be forced to seek an international bailout.
Adding to the euro's woes, Italy sold bonds at a very high cost, with 10-year yields topping 6 percent for the first time this year as sentiment on the indebted economy looked vulnerable to contagion from Spain's worsening problems.
The euro fell around half a percent to $1.2433 on trading platform EBS, its lowest since early July 2010, as real money and institutional investors stepped up sales of the currency.
"The euro is in an extremely vulnerable position and downside risks are very strong indeed ... The Spanish banking crisis has the potential to knock the stuffing out of the euro zone irrespective of the Greek election results," said Jane Foley, senior currency strategist at Rabobank.
"The issues for Spain are undoubtedly huge and most people are coming round to the idea that it will need to go outside of its borders for assistance. The longer it delays the more the risk of a bank run."
More falls could see the euro test a reported options barrier at $1.2400. Below there it has little chart support until $1.2151, a low hit in late June 2010, and then the 2010 low of $1.1876.
The common currency also lost more than 1 percent against the safe-haven yen, taking it to a four-month low of 98.274 yen.
The latest drop in the euro comes as the 10-year Spanish government bond yield continued to inch towards 7 percent. That was the level when other peripheral euro zone countries had to seek an international bailout.
The cost of insuring against a Spanish default hit new highs and the Madrid stock market hit a nine-year low.
The euro had gained some reprieve earlier in the week after Greece's pro-bailout parties regained an opinion poll lead ahead of elections on June 17, easing market fears of a messy Greece exit from the euro zone.
But the single currency's bounce proved short-lived as the market's focus shifted to Spain. The euro's failure to breach resistance near $1.2625 left the euro looking vulnerable.
"Our short-term fair value model is showing the euro should be around $1.21 with the euro a sell against a broad range of currencies," said Melinda Burgess, currency strategist, at RBS Global Banking.
A government source told Reuters on Tuesday that Spain would likely recapitalise Bankia, which asked for 19 billion euros on Friday, by issuing new debt and possibly drawing cash from the bank restructuring fund and Treasury reserves.
DOLLAR JUMPS
The euro's losses benefited the safe-haven dollar and yen, helping the dollar index, which measures its value against a basket of currencies, rise to a 20-month high of 82.749.
Technical analysts said a monthly close about the 100-month average in the dollar index around 81.82 may herald a shift in the longer-term trend of the dollar and reverse a multi-year drift lower.
The dollar also rose to a 15-month high against the Swiss franc at 0.96593 francs.
The higher-yielding Australian dollar fell 0.8 percent to $0.9765, slipping towards a six-month low at $0.9690, after weaker-than-expected retail sales data underscored the case for interest rate cuts.
Royal Academy of Music finance chief who swindled £100,000 from school for her pension fund jailed for 20 months - Daily Mail
By Sara Malm
|
Janet Whitehouse at her court appearance at Westminster Magistrates court earlier this month, today she was sentenced at crown court
A finance director for the Royal Academy of Music who siphoned away nearly quarter of a million pounds from the charity to top up her 100,000 salary was jailed for 20 months today.
Janet Whitehouse, 56, pocketed over 200,000 from the Academy and let her son live for free in one of the school’s flats in swanky Marylebone cheating the RAM of 33,600 in unpaid rent.
She sneaked 100,000 into her private accounts and later claimed it had been approved by the college’s chairman Lord Terence Burns.
It later emerged that Lord Burns was unaware of the payments made between March 2007 and January 2011.
As well as stealing the 100,000 a further 104,000 was invoiced to Whitleys Associates, a company where Whitehouse was a director, for work she claimed to have carried out at the RAM.
She admitted in court that the invoices were ‘wholly bogus’.
The reason given by Whitehouse’s defence in Southwark Crown Court today was that she was envious of her colleagues’ pensions and was stealing the money to top her own.
Whitehouse also put her son up in one of the flats the Academy lets to students on a not-for-profit basis and let him live there rent free.
Speaking on behalf of Ms Whitehouse her defence Neil Saunders claimed that she saved the charity from financial ruin at ‘a stage where it could have essentially ended all its history and existence‘ in the mid-nineties thanks to her ‘expertise and hard work’.
She was caught out when the company carried out an audit in 2010.
After finding ‘financial irregularities’ Whitehouse, of the Isle of Dogs, East London, ‘panicked’ and faked letters purporting to be from senior staff agreeing to the transactions and later tried to get a colleague to destroy the evidence.
The Aurora Orchestra plays at the Royal Academy of Music: the charity school offers training for soloists, chamber and orchestral musicians, conductors, opera singers and composers
Whitehouse left the Royal Academy of Music in March last year and has since repaid the 236,000 she unlawfully took.
She pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud in the magistrates’ court earlier this month but the case was so serious it was transferred to the crown court for sentence.
Opening the case, Antony Swift said: ‘In August 2010, following the uncovering of an unconnected serious fraud of which it had been a victim, the RAM conducted a complete audit to check the extent of the fraud.
‘Letters were sent to all companies RAM had dealings with requesting information. Only one company refused, Whitelys Associates.
‘It was not known at the time that the two directors of this company were the defendant and her ex-husband. The extent of Whitehouse’s dishonesty was soon revealed, leading to the charges preferred against her.’
Southwark Crown Court heard Whitehouse started working at the RAM on a part-time basis in 1992 before taking over as full-time director of finance in 1998.
The Royal Academy of Music counts Annie Lennox and Sir Elton John among its alumni
Whitehouse’s defence said that she was a woman of ‘impeccable good character’ adding that the RAM had been ‘her life for almost 20 years.’
The defence said her father’s death in 2007 was the trigger as she felt financially vulnerable in comparison to her colleagues on an academy pension.
‘She started to think about her future as she did not have an academy pension like some of her colleagues. She was embarrassed to ask so instead took the extra money.’
‘This is not an excuse for what she later did and she apologised to everyone at the academy for letting them down and for how truly sorry she is.
‘She deeply regrets her actions and the position she has now found herself in. What she has done has brought her name, her family and the name of the academy into disrepute.’
Whitehouse, shared a kiss and mouthed: “I love you,” to her partner as she stepped into the dock, dabbed her eyes throughout the hearing.
Jailing her for 20 months, Judge Deborah Taylor said she had no choice but to impose a custodial sentence.
She added: ‘You were appointed in 1998 to a position of the highest trust as the director of finance and administration at the Royal Academy of Music and you abused that trust by committing serious offences over a period of three and a half years to enrich yourself and benefit your family by three different means.
‘There is no doubt you have worked hard for the benefit of the academy and it is never pleasant to sentence someone of your obvious quality and ability who has suffered such a fall from grace.’
Based on London’s Marylebone Road, the Royal Academy offers training for soloists, chamber and orchestral musicians, conductors, opera singers and composers.
The school was founded in 1822 it has boasted many famous pupils. As well as Sir Elton John and former Eurythmics front woman Annie Lennox, Lesley Garrett attended the Academy and is now one of its trustees.
MONEY MARKETS-Speculation of ECB interest rate cuts returns - Reuters
* Markets pricing small probability of ECB rate cut in June
* Such bets likely to accumulate in coming days
* As in May, markets could set themselves up for letdown
By Marius Zaharia
LONDON, May 30 (Reuters) - Bets that the ECB will cut interest rates next week are again appearing in money markets, as Spanish and Italian debt yields are approaching levels that made the central bank introduce unprecedented easing measures last year.
The threat that Greece could eventually leave the euro and worries over Spain's banking sector have prompted investors to sell Spanish and Italian debt, bringing the two countries' borrowing costs closer to levels deemed as unsustainable.
The sheer size of their debt markets and their deep-rooted connections with other financial systems in the euro zone are reasons for investors to speculate that a policy response is in the works.
The European Central Bank is, as usual, seen as the most likely institution to take measures to cool market nerves because it can act faster than politicians. It has done it before in the past by injecting around 1 trillion euros of cheap loans into financial system in December and February.
Euro zone economic data this month has also been poor, supporting bets that the ECB may soon resume monetary easing, possibly by cutting its key refinancing rate by 25 basis points from a record low of 1 percent.
"Data ... have been softer, and then you have the Greece issue continuing to be unresolved and the Spanish issue continuing to be unresolved," said Elaine Lin, a rate strategist at Morgan Stanley, whose economists predict a rate cut.
She said the euro overnight Eonia rate forward market was only pricing an over 10 percent probability of a rate cut in June and the chances were higher by another 10-20 percentage points for the July meeting. However, she expected markets to factor in a higher probability in the next few days.
A key rate cut, if also accompanied by a cut in the 25 basis points deposit facility rate, could trigger a 5-10 bps fall in the near-term forward Eonia rates towards the 20 bps level seen now in September-October Eonia forward rates, Lin said.
The lowest point on the 2012 Eonia curve is December, at 16 basis points, which implies an 80 percent probability that the deposit rate would be slashed in half, according to BNP Paribas rate strategist Matteo Regesta.
A Reuters poll of economists showed the ECB was likely to resist pressure to cut interest rates in June, but also pointed to a growing probability that it will reduce them later this year.
Speculation about ECB monetary easing has also been fuelling a rally in Euribor futures , implying bets for lower fixings of benchmark euro zone interbank three-month Euribor rates later this year.
The December Euribor future has gained back most of its losses made since Greece's inconclusive election on May 6, which sparked fears the country may be on its way out of the bloc. The fall earlier this month also coincided with unwinding bets that the ECB would have cut rates in May.
The contract was last 3.5 ticks higher on the day at 99.46. That was one tick lower than the pre-election close on May 4, but some 15 ticks higher from the lows hit in mid-May.
The move higher in Euribor futures, which has been faster than the move lower seen in the very low Eonia forward rates, has led to tighter Euribor/Eonia spreads, which are widely used as a gauge of money market stress.
That is counter to what is happening in banking credit default swap markets - where investors can insure against banking defaults. The Markit iTraxx index of European senior financials CDS remains close to its highest level this year at around 300 bps.
BNP Paribas' Regesta warned that Euribor futures could fall again as they have done after the ECB's May meeting and this would trigger a widening of the Euribor/Eonia spreads consistent with the levels of stress felt in money markets.
"You have a decoupling between those spreads and the banks CDS now, but those spreads remain exposed to significant paying interest in coming weeks ... unless there is another policy response from the ECB at its meeting next week," Regesta said.
Money Saving Queen And Just Between Friends Form Partnership - News On 6
The Business Finance Store Discusses How to Appeal to the Millennial Generation - YAHOO!
The Business Finance Store discusses some recent findings on consumer habits that could help small businesses increase their sales.
Santa Ana, CA (PRWEB) May 30, 2012
According to research firm Technomic, businesses must be more socially responsible to appeal to the Millennial Generation (ages 19-34), the Sacramento Bee reported. In Technomic’s recent study “Understanding the Foodservice Attitudes and Behaviors of Millennials,” the research firm found that this younger cohort tends to look for such things as social responsibility, sustainability, local, and organic, grass-fed, and hormone-free offerings when dining out. However this information is relevant beyond the food service industry. In the recent blog post "Earn More by Targeting Millennial Shoppers, Tech-Savvy Texans and More," The Business Finance Store discusses some recent findings on consumer habits that could help small businesses increase their sales.Information on different demographics can be useful in helping small businesses increase their sales. Keeping up with the latest trends and understanding one’s client base can reap huge rewards. Read more about how small businesses can cater to different demographics at The Business Finance Store Blog.
The Business Finance Store is a business financing and consulting firm that offers customized Business Financial Solutions. Seasoned professionals offer assistance in a variety of financial solutions to help small businesses succeed such as:Business Financial Solutions, Legal Solutions, and Accounting Solutions.
The staff at The Business Finance Store understands that starting and growing a business is an exciting time. They keep it exciting by taking care of some of the most difficult aspects, by providing legal advice, helping with vital responsibilities like accounting & bookkeeping, and by obtaining business finance. They can quickly and easily guide entrepreneurs through many different complicated processes and put them on the path to success.
For 10 years The Business Finance Store has been helping startups and other small businesses legally structure their companies, find the right franchises, get the funding they need, and achieve the American Dream of owning their own successful business. Since expanding nationwide in 2007, they have helped thousands of companies and have funded over $60 Million in business credit lines, not including SBA loans. The Business Finance Store sees limitless potential in the current climate, and looks forward to many strong years of growth to come. Take some time to review their services, and give them a call.
For more information, or a free, no-obligation analysis of your business needs, visit The Business Finance Store website: http://www.businessfinancestore.com. A member of their professional staff will contact you to discuss your business' short and long-term goals. Whatever you need, The Business Finance Store is there.
Kelly Rye
The Business Finance Store
(949) 777-5959
Email Information
FOREX-Euro gets a lift from EU comments, but more losses seen - Reuters UK
* EU Commission comments lifts euro from lows
* Euro hits near 2-yr low vs dollar; dollar index at 20-mth high
* Focus on rising Spanish debt yields and risk of bailout (Recasts, adds quote)
By Anirban Nag
LONDON, May 30 (Reuters) - The euro bounced from near two-year lows against the dollar on Wednesday, after the European Commission called for sweeping reforms to restore investor confidence, but gains were likely to be fleeting on growing concerns about Spanish banks.
The European Commission said the euro zone should move towards a banking union and consider eurobonds and the direct recapitalisation of banks from its permanent bailout fund as it laid out year-long recommendations in a report.
The euro rose to as high as $1.24684 from a 23-month low of $1.24241 on trading platform EBS after the comments, but analysts said any bounce would only provide a fresh opportunity to sell the common currency.
"We will sell into this bounce as these proposals will take a long time and will entail changes to the treaty," said Geoffrey Yu, currency strategist at UBS.
Earlier the euro fell to its lowest since early July 2010, as real money and institutional investors stepped up sales of the currency. Their selling gathered pace as concerns grew about Spain's ailing banking sector and soaring borrowing costs, and after Italy was forced to pay dearly to sell debt.
The euro was seen highly vulnerable to further falls, with many analysts looking for a drop towards $1.20.
Concerns are growing that Spain may have to tap debt markets at a time when bond yields are near unsustainable levels. Market players fretted that it may be forced to seek an international bailout.
Adding to the euro's woes, Italian 10-year government bond yields topped 6 percent as sentiment on the indebted economy looked vulnerable to contagion from Spain's worsening problems.
"The euro is in an extremely vulnerable position and downside risks are very strong indeed ... The Spanish banking crisis has the potential to knock the stuffing out of the euro zone irrespective of the Greek election results," said Jane Foley, senior currency strategist at Rabobank.
"The issues for Spain are undoubtedly huge and most people are coming round to the idea that it will need to go outside of its borders for assistance. The longer it delays, the more the risk of a bank run."
More falls could see the euro test a reported options barrier at $1.2400. Below there it has little chart support until $1.2151, a low hit in late June 2010, and then the 2010 low of $1.1876.
The common currency also lost more than 1 percent against the safe-haven yen, taking it to a four-month low of 98.274 yen. It recovered to trade at 98.425 yen, still down 0.9 percent on the day.
DOLLAR BUOYANT
A government source told Reuters on Tuesday that Spain would likely recapitalise Bankia, which asked for 19 billion euros on Friday, by issuing new debt and possibly drawing cash from the bank restructuring fund and Treasury reserves.
The euro's weakness benefited the safe-haven dollar and yen, helping the dollar index, which measures its value against a basket of currencies, rise to a 20-month high of 82.749.
Technical analysts said a monthly close about the 100-month average in the dollar index around 81.82 may herald a shift in the longer-term trend of the dollar and reverse a multi-year drift lower.
The dollar also rose to a 15-month high against the Swiss franc at 0.9666 francs on EBS.
The higher-yielding Australian dollar fell 0.7 percent to $0.9777, slipping towards a six-month low at $0.9690, after weaker-than-expected retail sales data underscored the case for interest rate cuts. (Additional reporting by Jessica Mortimer; Editing by Andrew Roche)
So, this woman's justification for such abhorent behaviour is her lack of a pension? The irony of this is: professional musicians have suffered an unprecedented fall in their living standards in the last few years as fees and opportunities have crashed through the floor and they are among the least likely to be able to afford to make any provision for their ill health, accident or retirement. Again and again we see the parasitic managerial and adminstrative class behaving in a greedy, self-serving fashion.
- professional, musician, 30/5/2012 21:01
Report abuse