Financial Watch

World stock markets fell Thursday as mounting concerns about Greece’s debt crisis eroded investor confidence following a bright finish on Wall Street the day before.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 43.95 points, or 0.8 percent, at 5,679.48 while Germany’s DAX fell 53.15 points, or 0.9 percent, to 6,177.23. The CAC-40 in France fell 40.82 points, or 1 percent, to 3,936.85.

Wall Street was poised to open lower too — Dow futures fell 30 points, or 0.3 percent, to 11,029 while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 futures fell 4.4 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,196.

The U.S. dollar rose slightly against the major currencies in Asian trade yesterday as investors awaited a speech by the U.S. Federal Reserve chief while monitoring the lingering Greek debt crisis.
The euro fell to US$1.3471 in Tokyo afternoon trade from US$1.3487 in New York late Monday, but firmed to 124.81 yen from 124.58 yen. The U.S. dollar edged up to 92.61 yen from 92.42 yen in New York.

Lael Brainard won Senate confirmation on Tuesday as the Treasury Department’s top financial diplomat, giving her a key role in U.S. efforts to persuade China to adopt a more flexible currency.

The Senate gave its blessing on a 78-19 vote, a day after Brainard, who served in the Clinton White House, cleared a Republican procedural hurdle.

Nineteen Senate Republicans joined 57 Democrats and two independents in confirming Brainard as Treasury Department’s under secretary for international affairs. Her nomination was stalled for more than a year because of objections by some Republicans.

European stock markets found new support Monday, sharply reducing earlier losses as mixed trading in the U.S. tempered worry over the broader implications for banks from the U.S. fraud case against investment bank Goldman Sachs and the impact on airlines from the Iceland volcano.

London’s FTSE 100 and France’s CAC-40 were down 0.1 and 0.3 percent, respectively, by 3:15 p.m. London time (10:15 a.m. EST), easing back from a 0.7 percent decline earlier in the day.

Germany’s DAX blue-chip index rebounded to trade down a scant 0.02 percent, up from an earlier drop of 0.5 percent.

Goldman Sachs Fraud Allegations Affects Currency and Financial Markets. Recently news broke that the SEC is accusing Goldman Sachs of fraud because of some of their positions in various subprime mortgage holdings.

Currently, Goldman Sach’s claims that the SEC’s charges are unfounded and untrue. The SEC maintains that the company misstated and misquoted information and mislead investors in certain subprime mortgage holdings.

The news of the fraud has negatively impacted the financial market. US Stocks in the S&P 500 fell 1.6% on the news. The Dow Jones Industrial fell 125.91 points upon the news, and closed barely over 11,000.

The currency rollercoaster continues, as worries over Greece’s massive debt problems drive the dollar up against the euro and the euro down significantly against all pairs.

The dollar rose by 0.68% against the euro to 1.3558, but fell 0.3% against the yen and 0.14% against the pound. The dollar was up by 0.12% against the CAD. The dollar index as a whole is up by 0.37%.

The euro dropped almost by a full percentage point against the yen, down to 125.99. It also fell by 0.56% against the CAD and 0.82% against the pound.