Dollar Declines Against Euro Before Housing, Sentiment Reports
May 16, 2008 |15:12 | Money | Others By : Team X
The dollar snapped three days of gains against the euro before reports that may show U.S. housing starts fell to a 17-year low and consumer confidence slumped to the weakest in 26 years.
The U.S. currency pared its weekly advance versus the euro after European Central Bank policy makers signaled they are unlikely to cut interest rates that are double those in the U.S. The yen was set for its biggest weekly decline in a month versus the dollar and euro as Asian stock gains encouraged investors to increase holdings of higher-yielding assets funded in Japan.
``There's some negative sentiment out there and that's impacting on the dollar,'' said Emma Lawson, a foreign-exchange strategist in London at Merrill Lynch & Co. ``It's accepted that the U.S. housing market is going to weaken further.''
The dollar fell to $1.5494 per euro at 10:37 a.m. in London, from $1.5448 in New York yesterday and $1.5482 on May 9. The U.S. currency has risen 3.4 percent since trading at an all- time low of $1.6019 against the euro April 22. It was at 104.70 yen, from 104.74 yen yesterday and 102.87 a week ago. The euro traded at 162.26 yen, from 161.79 yesterday and 159.21 May 9.

Weddings between airlines have long been seen as a way to cut costs and raise revenue. But now that oil is parked around $125 a barrel, the costs of the nuptials are starting to make marriages look riskier than ever.
The maker of the PlayStation 3 game console joined Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. in forecasting earnings that beat analyst estimates, easing concern over the slowing U.S. economy and stronger yen, which led Toyota Motor Corp. to predict its first profit decline in nine years. Sony said yesterday its games and TV operations, which analysts estimated would lose money, will turn profitable this year.
Nissan Motor Co. (7201.TO) said Tuesday that its net profit jumped 67% in the quarter ended March, in a sign that the company is overcoming the strength of the yen and high material costs.
China's new aerospace firm charged with building jumbo-jets will pose no threat to Airbus and Boeing for 20 years and will require the help of foreign technology, state press reported Monday.
Carphone Warehouse will put its European and U.S. retail business, which operates from more than 2,400 stores, into the joint venture, in return for a cash payment of GBP1.1 billion from Best Buy.
Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates, traveling through Asia, met Tuesday with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and championed his vision of the future of high tech and the Internet.
A proposed "OPEC-style" rice cartel in Southeast Asia will go nowhere due to the inability of governments to cooperate with each other and control output from their farmers, analysts and traders said on Friday.










