BLBG:Euro Drops to 10-Year Low Versus Yen After Italian Debt Sale; Futures Rise
The euro weakened to a decade low against the yen as Italy sold 7 billion euros ($9 billion) of bonds in its final debt sale of the year. U.S. equity-index futures gained while gold retreated.
The 17-nation euro decreased as much as 0.5 percent versus the yen before trading at 100.38 yen as of 11:18 a.m. in London. Italian 10-year bonds fell, pushing the yield seven basis points higher to 7.07 percent. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures rose 0.3 percent and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced less than 0.1 percent. Gold declined to a five-month low.
Italy sold bonds due in 2022 to yield 6.98 percent, compared with 7.56 percent at the last sale on Nov. 29. The European Central Bank said overnight deposits from financial institutions declined from a record high yesterday. Data today may show U.S. pending sales of previously owned homes rose for a second month, while initial jobless claims increased.
“Yield levels around 7 percent are absolutely not sustainable,” said Michael Markovic, a senior fixed-income strategist at Credit Suisse Group AG in Zurich. “They could not sell the entire size they planned. It’s not positive news for the stressed sovereign-debt markets in the euro zone.”
The euro slid for a fifth day against the yen and earlier reached 100.36, the weakest level since June 2001. The 17-nation currency slipped 0.4 percent to $1.2895 after earlier touching $1.2888, the lowest since Jan. 10.
Italian Debt
Italy sold 2.5 billion euros of bonds due in 2014 to yield 5.62 percent, down from 7.89 percent at the previous sale. That was less than the 3 billion-euro maximum target. Today’s auctions also included about 2 billion euros of notes due 2021 and a floating-rate security due 2018, and came after the nation sold 9 billion euros in treasury bills for 3.251 percent yesterday, about half the rate from the prior auction.
The ECB last week awarded 523 banks three-year loans totaling a record 489 billion euros to encourage lending. Overnight deposits at the central bank decreased from an all- time high yesterday, with euro-area banks parking 437 billion euros compared with 452 billion euros a day earlier.
“The ECB, for the foreseeable future, will not drain liquidity once per month as it always has done,” said Robert Rennie, Sydney-based chief currency strategist at Westpac Banking Corp., Australia’s second-largest lender. “It gives you greater confidence that this is more formal quantitative easing. Both on an outright and a cross basis, the risks still do lie to the downside for the euro.”
Merkel, Sarkozy Meeting
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy may meet on Jan. 9 in Berlin to discuss the debt crisis, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing an unidentified European Union official familiar with the situation.
The Stoxx 600 has dropped 13 percent this year, compared (MXAP) with an 18 percent slump in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index and a 0.6 percent fall in the S&P 500.
The MSCI Asian index was little changed today. A gauge of raw material producers posted the largest drop among its 10 industry groups. Lynas Corp. (LYC), an Australian rare earths developer, slid 5.3 percent after the Chinese government said on Dec. 27 it will keep 2012 export quotas of rare earth virtually unchanged.
The gain in S&P 500 futures indicated the measure will rebound from yesterday’s 1.3 percent decline. Treasury 10-year yields (USGG10YR) were little changed at 1.92 percent. A report at 8:30 a.m. in Washington may show U.S. initial jobless claims climbed to 375,000 last week after falling to the lowest since April 2008 in the previous period, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
U.S. Economy
Separate figures from the National Association of Realtors may say pending sales of previously owned homes rose 1.5 percent in November after a 10 percent jump the previous month. The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago Inc. will release its business barometer for December at 9:45 a.m. New York time.
Gold fell as much as 2 percent to $1,524.80 an ounce, the lowest price since July 7. Oil in New York rebounded 0.1 percent to $99.42 a barrel after falling 2 percent yesterday. Cotton jumped 1.3 percent to 91.84 cents a pound, the third consecutive advance.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index dropped 0.4 percent, extending this week’s losses to 1.9 percent. Russia’s Micex fell 1.4 percent as oil declined. Indian stocks dropped for a third day, with the Sensex sliding 1.2 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite Index advanced 0.2 percent, a second straight day of gains.
To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Rummer in London at arummer@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chris Nagi at chrisnagi@bloomberg.net
