Stock markets end a downbeat January

Both the Dow Jones and S&P 500 ended the month down by more than 3%.

Shares of hamburger chain Shake Shack sizzled on Friday following its IPO while Amazon’s rallied after a strong earnings report. But a few bright spots couldn’t ward off another day of losses for the stock market, which closed out January in the red. Concerns about weak domestic economic growth weighed down the market on Friday after the Commerce Department said that U.S. gross domestic product grew at a lower-than-expected annual rate of 2.6% in the fourth quarter of 2014 — down from 5% during the previous quarter. Friday also brought renewed concern over economic stability in Europe, where Greece’s new finance minister said the country would not negotiate new bailout terms with the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
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Daily FX Trading Update: Japanese Inflation Figures Fall Short – Jan 30, 2015

The US dollar was able to advance against most of its FX trading counterparts when risk aversion extended its stay in the currency market. Traders are also increasing their long dollar bets after the FOMC retained its hawkish bias earlier this week. Data from the US economy was mixed, as the initial jobless claims showed a better than expected 265K reading versus the projected 301K figure while the pending home sales report marked a 3.7% decline. For today, the US advanced GDP reading is due and another strong figure might lead to more gains for the dollar. Analysts are expecting to see a 3.0% growth figure for Q4.

The euro recovered slightly in recent FX trading, despite weaker than expected data from Germany. The preliminary CPI showed a 1.0% decline instead of the projected 0.8% drop while the unemployment change report showed a mere 9K drop in joblessness. Apart from that, the previous month’s reading was downgraded to show a smaller decline in unemployment. German retail sales and French consumer spending figures are up for release today, with the former likely to show a 0.4% gain and the latter to print a 0.3% uptick. Also up for release are the Spanish flash GDP and CPI figures, along with the euro zone CPI flash estimates.

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Personal Finance: Stock investment styles -- growth versus value

The plethora of choices available to stock investors can seem bewildering at first blush. Some 14,000 companies trade in U.S. Dollars on American stock exchanges and thousands more in their native currencies on foreign bourses. Large cap, small cap, international, domestic, high-octane or steady Eddie; sometimes the mind reels. A good starting point is to separate the choices into basic style categories seeking to broadly describe the general tenor of each potential investment.
Equities are traditionally divided into two style categories: growth and value. While there are other possible classifications and many shades of grey, this broad distinction is useful in assessing the appropriateness of an individual stock or stock fund with regard to a particular investor's goals and risk tolerance.
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Gold prices slightly weaker in Asia with focus on Fed meeting

Gold prices eased on Wednesday with investors looking ahead to comments from the Federal Reserve on the prospects for a rate hike this year.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for April delivery eased 0.05% to trade at $1,292.30 a troy ounce.

Overnight, gold erased losses to hit the highest levels of the session on Tuesday, after data showed that U.S. durable goods orders fell unexpectedly in December, fuelling concerns over the strength of the economy.

Prices fell by as much as $7.10 earlier to hit a daily low of $1,273.30, the weakest level since January 19.

Also on the Comex, silver futures for March delivery fell 0.03% at $18.078 a troy ounce.

In a report, the U.S. Commerce Department said that total durable goods orders, which include transportation items, fell by 3.4% last month, compared to expectations for a gain of 0.5%.
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Russia c.bank says conducted no forex market interventions on Jan 23

Jan 27 (Reuters) - Russia's central bank said on Tuesday it had conducted no interventions on the foreign exchange market on Jan. 23 and that the Finance Ministry had not sold any forex on that day.
The central bank releases its interventions data with a two-day time lag. (Reporting by Alexander Winning and Elena Fabrichnaya, editing by Jason Bush)

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UPDATE 2-Market reaction muted after S&P drops Russia to 'junk'

Jan 27 (Reuters) - Russian financial markets saw a muted reaction on Tuesday after ratings agency S&P downgraded the country's sovereign credit rating to 'junk', with the rouble strengthening and Moscow-listed shares broadly steady.
Although the rouble fell sharply on Monday and bond yields rose, analysts said that the immediate implications of the downgrade were limited, as the move was largely priced in and other major agencies still rate Russia above junk.
Bond yields on Russian Eurobonds did edge higher on Tuesday, however, as did the cost of insuring exposure to Russian debt.

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German Probe Finds No Signs of Manipulation in Gold Market

Germany’s financial regulator BaFin has found no evidence to support allegations of manipulation in the gold market or that currency exchange rates were systematically rigged, according to its head of banking supervision.
Raimund Roeseler also said the watchdog is close to concluding a probe into alleged attempts to rig the London Interbank Offered Rate, a benchmark for borrowing costs. He didn’t comment on the results of that investigation.
The probe into currency markets is still under way, he said. Roeseler spoke to Handelsblatt newspaper in an interview published in Frankfurt Monday. Oliver Struck, a spokesman for BaFin, confirmed the comments in an e-mail to Bloomberg News.
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Toyota to move to merit-based pay for factory workers: Nikkei

Toyota Motor Corp (T:7203) will change the way it pays factory workers, focusing on their performance rather than their seniority, the Nikkei reported on Monday.
Toyota's new arrangement, designed to attract young talent, will apply to about 40,000 employees, or about 60 percent of its workers, aged between 18 and 65, according to the Nikkei. (http://s.nikkei.com/1EMRveN)
The automaker has unveiled the proposal to its labor union and is hopeful of rolling it out next January, the Nikkei said.
Employees will be evaluated twice a year, with wages adjusted every six months, the Nikkei reported.
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Gold prices set to rise on financial markets uncertainty

Gold prices are set to rise next week, buoyed by the uncertainty in the financial markets following the Canadian and European central bank actions.
But the gold markets could witness some consolidation following a strong start to the year, analysts said.
Traders will be tracking the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision, due on 28 January, and its impact on the US dollar next week.
The demand for dollar-denominated commodities such as gold typically weakens on a stronger greenback as it makes the metal more expensive for holders of other currencies, lowering its hedge appeal.
Analysts' take
Capital Economics said it was bullish on gold heading into next week, stating that recent global central banks' moves had sparked some uncertainty in the financial markets.
The firm added that lower bond yields, and negative bond yields in Europe, will continue to support the gold market next week.
Howard Wen, commodity analyst from HSBC, told Kitco News that because of its strong momentum, gold prices do have room to climb higher, but that he expects the market to see a bit of consolidation after a rally in prices this year.
Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, told Kitco that the metal should maintain its momentum as long as it holds above the 200-day moving average, which comes in at $1,256.40 an ounce.
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