Euro in discesa per colpa di WestLB. Mi scappa da ridere...
Adesso, Alumnia mica si impunterà per quisqulie, visto che c'è in gioco la sorte dell'euro...
![Big Grin :D :D](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Euro Hits Three-Week Low Against Dollar
By EVA SZALAY
LONDON—
The euro fell to a three-week low against the dollar in Europe as worries about German bank WestLB added to renewed euro-area sovereign-debt concerns.
The euro traded recently at $1.3469, down from $1.3547 late Friday in New York. The dollar was at 83.35 yen, compared with 83.40 yen, while the euro was at 112.26 yen from 113.04 yen. Sterling recently fetched $1.5998, little changed from $1.6004 late Friday in New York.
Earlier in Asia, the euro advanced as investors welcomed upbeat Chinese trade data and President
Hosni Mubarak's decision on Friday to step down as Egyptian president following weeks of protests
However, shortly after European trade got under way, the euro tumbled some 0.4% against the greenback to trade at $1.3453. Sources close to the situation said Sunday that WestLB, a troubled German lender, could be preparing to outline a government-supported restructuring plan, setting the groundwork for a breakup of the bank.
"Concerns about WestLB added to increasing doubts about EU officials' ability to reach an agreement to bolster the European Fiscal Stability Facility before April and that's hurting the euro," said Jane Foley, a currency analyst at Rabobank in London.
The euro was also facing pressure ahead of the meeting of Eurogroup finance ministers Monday afternoon, but while the meeting will be watched with interest, no new developments are expected before the meeting of euro-zone leaders at the end of March.
Last week, the European Central Bank bought Portuguese government bonds in the secondary market once again, after investors started demanding higher interest rates to hold weaker euro-area bonds compared with safe-haven German bunds. Yields spreads on Portuguese and Spanish bonds were wider again Monday.
"The current situation is everything but straightforward. There have been signs on the bond markets for some weeks that the yields of the peripheral countries have been rising again and only ECB intervention seems to have been able to prevent a notable rise," Commerzbank said in a note to clients.
Disappointing euro-zone industrial production data also weighed on the currency, which ticked lower after figures showed that December industrial output fell by 0.1%, its first negative reading in three months.
The euro was also lower against the Swedish krona and it traded at 8.7583 kronor, near the all-time low of 8.7574 kronor, ahead of the Swedish central bank's rate-setting meeting Tuesday. Investors expect the Riksbank to raise rates by 0.25 percentage point, taking its key rate to 1.5%.
The pound was little changed in the absence of data drivers ahead of the release of U.K. January inflation figures Tuesday. Sterling's rally since the start of the year has been attributed to growing rate-rise expectations, as investors hope for decisive action from the Bank of England as inflation has consistently overshot the BOE's 2% target.
A higher-than-expected consumer-price index release could boost sterling, but market watchers noted that Wednesday's quarterly inflation report could render the currency's path choppy this week.
Elsewhere, the dollar's gains have been trimmed by a sharp selloff in the euro against the Swiss franc, which has fallen over one cent in Europe and against the Japanese yen after recent one-month highs around 83.70 yen attracted aggressive selling by Japanese exporters.
U.S. President Barack Obama will release his administration's budget for fiscal 2011, which could divert attention from euro-area fiscal concerns and focus investors' attention on the challenges faced by the U.S. to reduce its gaping budget deficit.