Lawrence McDonald

Article by Ann Saphir and Jonathan Spicer, Reuters The Federal Reserve has moved closer to embarking on a new round of its controversial money-pumping after the central bank and its chairman Ben Bernanke highlighted a grim outlook for the U.S. economy. Bernanke on Wednesday opened the door a bit wider for the Fed to return [...]

Article by Lucia Mutikani, Reuters The number of Americans filing for new jobless benefits dropped to an almost four-year low last week, and factory activity in the mid-Atlantic expanded moderately, suggesting the economy carried some momentum into the new year. But the pace of growth probably will slow. Analysts cautioned the drop in jobless claims [...]

Article By Stephen Kirkland and Lynn Thomasson, Bloomberg Stocks rose, driving the MSCI All- Country World Index to a four-week high, while U.S. futures and commodities climbed on signs of increased manufacturing output. The dollar weakened and U.S. Treasuries fell. The MSCI gauge advanced 0.6 percent at 8:20 a.m. in New York, on course for the [...]

Article By Masaki Kondo, Bloomberg There’s been no better currency in 2011 than the yen and strategists forecast more gains, even as Japan promises to intervene again in foreign-exchange markets and expands the world’s biggest debt burden. The yen’s advance against every major currency, including a 4.1 percent climb against the dollar, illustrates the anxiety in global [...]

Article By Anurag Joshi, Bloomberg Indian companies have a record $11.4 billion of dollar-denominated bonds to repay in 2012 just as the rupee falls to an all-time low and borrowing costs in the U.S. currency exceed all but one of Asia’s markets. Companies have more than double the debt coming due next year compared with [...]

Article By Zeke Faux and John Detrixhe, Bloomberg Four months after Standard & Poor’s stripped the U.S. of its AAA credit rating and said the world’s biggest economy was no longer the safest of borrowers, dollar- denominated financial assets are doing nothing but appreciating. Government bonds have returned 4.4 percent, the dollar has gained 8.6 percent [...]

Newedge Senior Director Larry McDonald, Dow Jones columnist Al Lewis and Cameron Hanover President Peter Beutel on the outlook for commodities On Thursday, December 15th gold extended a rout into a fourth day as concern that Europe’s debt crisis is escalating boosted the dollar, raising the prospect that the precious metal may enter a bear market. [...]

Article By Catarina Saraiva and Paul Dobson, Bloomberg The euro fell to the lowest level in two months versus the dollar as Moody’s Investors Service said it will review the ratings of European Union nations after last week’s summit failed to produce decisive steps to end the debt crisis. The dollar and yen strengthened against [...]