Dollar Retreats From 5-Year High Versus Yen; Aussie Up From Low

Bloomberg (23/12) -- The dollar extended its retreat from a five-year high versus the yen amid speculation investors are exiting bets on before year-end and ahead of data on the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge.

The U.S. currency last week advanced versus eight Group of 10 currencies as the Fed said it will reduce the size of its bond-purchase program and reiterated that benchmark rates will remain low contingent on jobless and inflation data. Australia’s dollar added to its biggest advance in more than a month and traded about a cent from its three-year low. The greenback was at 104.06 yen as of 10:42 a.m. in Tokyo from 104.10 on Dec. 20, when it reached 104.64, the highest since October 2008. It fell 0.1 percent to $1.3682 per euro. Japan’s currency fell to 142.37 per euro from 142.32. The Bloomberg U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the U.S. currency against 10 major counterparts, was little changed at 1,021.23 after rising 0.5 percent last week. The measure is up 3.5 percent this year. A budget deal in Washington and the Federal Reserve’s plan to taper its bond buying will allow for a new growth estimate, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on NBC’s “Meet

Gold steady above $1,200, but tapering worries remain

SINGAPORE, Reuters (23/12) - Gold ticked up Monday after its biggest weekly loss in a month, but the metal was still at the risk of falling back below $1,200 an ounce as investors fretted over the impact of a U.S. stimulus tapering.

Spot gold edged up 0.1 percent to $1,203.91 an ounce by 0018 GMT. It rose 1 percent on Friday on short covering after losing 4 percent in the previous three sessions. Gold fell 3 percent last week after the Fed said the U.S. economy was strong enough to scale back its massive bond-buying stimulus, winding down an era of easy money that saw gold rally to an all-time high of $1,920.30 an ounce in 2011. Gold has fallen nearly 30 percent this year as a scale back of stimulus hurts its inflation-hedge appeal. Hedge fund managers cut their bullish bets on gold only modestly this week before the first-ever tapering of the U.S. monetary stimulus sent the precious metal's price to six-month lows, data released on Friday showed. SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings rose 5.40 tonnes to 814.12 tonnes on Friday. The volume of gold transferred between accounts held by bullion clearers rose by 22 percent to an average of 24.2 million ounces a day, the London Bullion Market Association said.

Saham AS Naik ke Rekornya Pasca PDB Tumbuh Melebihi Perkiraan

Bloomberg (21/12) – Saham-saham AS naik, mengirimkan Indeks Standard & Poor 500 menuju kenaikan mingguan terbesar sejak bulan Juli lalu, setelah data menunjukkan pertumbuhan yang lebih cepat dari perkiraan mendorong kepercayaan di Negara dengan ekonomi terbesar dunia tersebut.

S & P 500 naik 0,5 persen ke rekor 1,819.46 pada pukul 4 sore di New York. Indeks Dow Jones Industrial Average naik 60,75 poin, atau 0,4 persen, ke 16,239.83, yang merupakan tertinggi sepanjang waktu. S & P 500 melonjak 2,5 persen dalam minggu ini, menghentikan serangkaian penurunan dua mingguan dan menghapus kerugian selama sebulan terakhir, setelah keputusan Federal Reserve untuk memperlambat laju stimulus mendorong kepercayaan investor bahwa pemulihan di Negara dengan ekonomi terbesar di dunia tersebut sedang berada di jalurnya. Kenaikan mingguan Dow sebesar 3,1 persen adalah yang terbesar sejak 4 Januari lalu. Data hari ini menunjukkan tingkat ekspansi pada kuartal ketiga lebih cepat dari perkiraan sebelumnya karena konsumen meningkatkan pengeluaran pada sektor layanan seperti perawatan kesehatan dan perusahaan berinvestasi lebih banyak pada perangkat lunak. Produk domestik bruto naik pada tingkat tahunan sebesar 4,1 persen, terkuat sejak tiga bulan terakhir pada tahun 2011 yang lalu dan naik dari perkiraan sebelumnya 3,6 persen, menurut angka Departemen Perdagangan. S & P 500 telah menguat 28 persen sepanjang tahun 2013 ini, berada di jalur untuk kinerja terbaik sejak tahun 1997 yang lalu. Tiga putaran pembelian obligasi bank sentral telah membantu mendorong benchmark ekuitas 169 persen lebih tinggi dari level terendah 12 - tahun pada tahun 2009 yang lalu. The Fed mungkin akan mengurangi pembelian obligasi sebesar $ 10 miliar masing-masing dari tujuh pertemuan berikutnya sebelum mengakhiri programnya pada Desember 2014 ini, menurut perkiraan rata-rata dalam survei Bloomberg dari 41 ekonom yang dilakukan pada 19 Desember lalu. Pengumuman perubahan indeks, seperti penambahan pencantuman Facebook Inc. di S & P 500, memberikan efek setelah pasar ditutup. Manajer keuangan akan perlu untuk membeli dan menjual sekitar $ 13.8 miliar sahamnya setelah mereka mengacak dana mereka untuk meniru perubahan dalam menyeimbangkan kuartalan S & P 500, menurut perkiraan dari Howard Silverblatt, analis indeks senior dari Indeks S & P Dow Jones di New York. Dia memperkirakan perusahaan utilitas akan melihat peningkatan terbesar dalam representasi mereka sementara bobot staples konsumen akan mengalami penurunan.(frk)

 

U.S. Stocks Rise to Records as GDP Grows Faster Than Estimated

Bloomberg (21/12) -- U.S. stocks rose, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to its biggest weekly gain since July, as data showing faster-than-estimated growth boosted confidence in the world’s largest economy.

The S&P 500 added 0.5 percent to a record 1,819.46 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 60.75 points, or 0.4 percent, to 16,239.83, also an all-time high. The S&P 500 jumped 2.5 percent this week, halting a string of two weekly declines and erasing a loss for the month, after the Federal Reserve’s decision to slow the pace of its stimulus boosted investor confidence that the recovery in the world’s largest economy is on course. The Dow’s weekly advance of 3.1 percent was its biggest since Jan. 4. Data today showed the rate of expansion in the third quarter was faster than previously estimated as consumers stepped up spending on services such as health care and companies invested more in software. Gross domestic product climbed at a 4.1 percent annualized rate, the strongest since the final three months of 2011 and up from a previous estimate of 3.6 percent, Commerce Department figures showed. The S&P 500 has rallied 28 percent so far in 2013, on course for its best performance since 1997. Three rounds of central-bank bond purchases have helped propel the equity benchmark 169 percent higher from a 12-year low in 2009. The Fed will probably reduce its bond purchases by $10 billion in each of its next seven meetings before ending the program in December 2014, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 41 economists conducted on Dec. 19. Announced index changes, such as the addition of Facebook Inc.’s inclusion in the S&P 500, take effect after the markets’ close. Money managers will need to buy and sell about $13.8 billion of shares as they shuffle their funds to mimic changes in the S&P 500 quarterly rebalance, according to estimates from Howard Silverblatt, a senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices in New York. He forecast utility companies will see the biggest increase in their representation while the weighting of consumer staples will drop the most.

 

Emas Berjangka Naik namun Akhiri Pekan Turun 2.5%

SAN FRANCISCO (21/12) - MarketWatch – Komoditi emas berjangka ditutup lebih tinggi dihari Jumat, dengan harga yamg meraih kembali sebuah porsi penurunan besar sebanyak 3.4% yang terlihat sehari sebelumnya.

Sementara dihari Kamis penetapan berada dilevel terendahnya selama lebih dari tiga tahun terakhir dalam bangkitnya keputusan dari the Fed diakhir hari Rabu guna memangkas program pembelian asetnya yang dimulai bulan Januari. Emas untuk Februari telah bertambah 0.9% sejumlah $10.10 menuju penetapan dilevel harga $1,203.70 per ons pada divisi Comex dari New York Mercantile Exchange. Harga mengalami penurunan lebih dari $41 untuk penetapan hari Kamis dilevel harga $1,193.60, yang terendah sejak Agustus 2010. (tito) http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-futures-climb-but-end-the-week-down-25-2013-12-20