Currencies

China's commerce minister said Wednesday that a U.S. trade bill targeting Chinese imports goes against international rules and that Beijing will not adjust the value of its currency.

Although the U.S. imports more goods from China than anywhere, there are some costly cultural misunderstandings that may be hurting bottom lines on both sides.

Italy's cost of borrowing over six months sank towards 15 at an auction--the lowest in 17 months.

The Treasury secretary said Europe has averted potential financial catastrophe, but said it still must put up a sturdier firewall against contagion.

While most investors realize Iraq is still a dangerous place to travel to, they may not fully grasp the financial risks to trading in the nation’s currency.

The single currency notched its second day of gains against the U.S. dollar as traders reacted to a possible increase of the IMF's firepower.

The single currency held near a 17-month low against the greenback on Monday amid worries deadlocked debt talks in Greece may worsen the eurozone's debt crisis.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said emerging-market nations must let their currencies rise to ensure more stable global growth.

The 17-nation currency sunk to its lowest level in 15 months against the U.S. dollar as worries over the currency bloc's debt crisis persist.

The common currency slumped to the lowest level since early this year against the greenback amid regional debt worries ahead of Italy's long-term bond auction.

European finance ministers are discussing ways of boosting IMF resources to build a better firewall against the debt crisis.

The euro edged down as European policymakers geared up to discuss enhancing the IMF's arsenal and tightening euro zone fiscal rules, while the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il fed fears of instability in Asia.

China's economic growth could be slowing further as data on Thursday showed the first year-on-year drop in foreign direct investment in 28 months and a fresh fall in new orders signalled a further contraction in factory activity.

China's economic growth could be slowing further as data on Thursday showed the first year-on-year drop in foreign direct investment in 28 months and a fresh fall in new orders signalled a further contraction in factory activity.

The euro dropped to an 11-month low against the U.S. dollar amid worries over the eurozone's debt crisis.

Credit research companies Experian and Fico expect a surge in contracts to run consumer loan checks in Brazil as the government moves to implement a credit scoring system that may help trim borrowing costs.

The European Central Bank cut interest rates by a quarter of a point on Thursday to counter the twin threats of recession and deflation in the euro zone, and is expected to unveil fresh measures to help banks hurt by the bloc's debt crisis.

v  USD mixed after NFP misses forecast, but unemployment rate unexpectedly drops to 8.6%;

Talking Points

The rupee snapped a four-week losing trend, adding 2 percent on the week, on robust dollar inflows into domestic bonds and supported by gains in world stocks following six major central banks' move to cut funding costs for banks.

The US labor market improved in November adding 120K jobs during the month - a figure that hit estimates right on the dot. If we look at previous months revisions we also have a positive note in that October's reading was revised to 100K from the previously reported 80K and September was revised up to a 210K gain from 158K.

USD-CHF @ 0.9158/61...Buy dips
R: 0.9180-9200 / 0.9250 / 0.9350
S: 0.9130 / 0.9070 / 0.9025-00

Markets reversed to the downside with the start of the U.S. session today, as investors tend to close their bullish positions seen across the board as this week approached the end ahead of the coming busy week for Europe, despite the upbeat jobs report from the world's largest economy.

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The infamous U.S. jobs report does not stop with the surprises, despite missing expectations for jobs growth in November the unemployment rate unexpected dropped to 8.6%.

December 9 is shaping up to be another of those EU Summits in which a final plan or resolution to the sovereign debt crisis is presented. The broad outlines of a deal are becoming apparent as we have major players including Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy, Mario Monti, Mario Draghi and Herman Van Rumpoy articulating the same points of late.

Forex Technical Update

The BSE Sensex posted solid gains for a third straight day on Friday and logged its best week since July 2009 on prospects of a revival in foreign fund inflows and expectations of a pickup in domestic growth.

CHF

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The pair closed marginally lower following its failure to follow through higher on its corrective strength on Thursday. However, GBP remains biased to the upside nearer term but will have to return above the 1.5779 level to open the door for further strength towards the 1.5885 level, its Nov 18'2011 high. A breach of there will set the stage for further gains towards the 1.6161 level, its Oct 31'2011 high. Its daily RSI is bullish and pointing higher suggesting further strength. Alternatively, the risk to this analysis will be a return below the 1.5424 level level, its Nov'2011 low and the 1.5270 level, its Oct 2011 low. This will open up further downside risk towards its big psycho level at 1.5000 and possibly lower. On the whole, GBP continues to maintain its recovery tone set from the 1.5424 level.

Canada released the jobs report for the month of November, where the unemployment rate rose unexpectedly to 7.4%, compared with the prior and expected estimates of 7.3%, while the net change in employment fell by 18.6 thousand jobs in November, compared with median estimates of 20 thousand and the prior 54.0 thousand shed in October.

Gold prices and global equities surged Friday after German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a change in the European Union treaty to ensure authentic fiscal discipline and thus preserve the Eurozone.