US dollar falls against euro, currency basket… Pound hits 6-1/2-yr low vs dlr, near parity with euro… Swiss franc supported by Israel-Hamas conflict… Prices of US single-family homes plunge in October

The U.S. dollar fell against the euro and a basket of currencies on Tuesday as weak U.S. housing data and a dim economic outlook for the start of 2009 weighed on the currency.

The contrast of aggressive monetary easing in the United States versus a more cautious European Central Bank is lending support to the euro while hurting the greenback, analysts said.

Some market participants also cited the ongoing conflict in Gaza and Israel, as supporting the Swiss franc near a five-month high.

Meanwhile, sterling continued its downtrend, hitting a 6-1/2 year low against the U.S. dollar and hovering near record lows in sight of parity against the euro on prospects of UK interest rates being cut

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Dollar up vs yen as BOJ warns of further export woes…  Euro gains broadly; doubts about U.S. auto bailout loom… Market expects ECB rate cut; policy-makers seem divided

The dollar rose against the yen on Monday after the Bank of Japan followed last week’s interest rate cut with a warning that the health of Japan’s economy has deteriorated and is likely to get worse.

But investors’ equally dim view of the U.S. economy hurt the greenback against the euro, which rose broadly in holiday-thinned trade. Doubts about whether a U.S. automaker bailout would steer the economy out of recession also hit the dollar.

Traders said volumes were razor-thin in the lead-Up to the Christmas holidays, aggravating even the slightest moves in the currency markets. Still, many said demand for dollars remained low.

“The dollar view is so opaque at the moment, and the risk reward at this time

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Remember the good ol' days (circa June 2007) when the £1 got you $2 (eventually topping out at $2.11); now we have a new pairing on the horizon: £1 = €1. It's not there yet, but this relationship has left the realm of the calculated and entered the crazy world of the emotional. It will end in tears for some and joy for others, but speculators need only apply. br /br /span class="fullpost"From the a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ddbc5f48-cd48-11dd-9905-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1"FT/a:br /br /blockquoteSterling sank to 95.5p against the euro for the first time amid rising speculation that the Bank of England will follow the US Federal Reserve and cut rates to virtually zero.br /br /The speed of sterling’s fall has been gathering momentum.br /br /Last week it fell by 1.25 per cent on a trade-weighted basis but this week it has taken only three days – Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday – to fall ...

Broadcasters don’t stop transmitting television programs during a recession. That’s why Tom Bulford says ContentFilm (LON:CFL) could be a great penny stock for this downturn. The company has a low-risk business model and is trading at a huge discount today. But Tom says investors need to watch out for a £9 million preferred shares liability due in March 2009.

This from Fleet Street Invest:

‘Welcome to the new West! Where overnight oil millionaires with Porsches and over-the-top mansions butt up against the salt-of-the earth cattle and rodeo country. It’s a place where fortunes are made in the tar sands at noon and lost on the poker tables at night.’

Phew! I don’t think we’re talking about Ilfracombe! More like Dallas, I should say. And this is indeed the promotion for a television series called The Wild Roses, described as an ‘epic clash

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From the a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/1209/breaking35.htm"Irish Times/a.br /br /blockquoteThe group is suffering alongside other big ticket retailers from the economic downturn. Total sales orders fell by 47 per cent in the three months to November 2nd.br /br /It added recently: “We expect market conditions to be challenging and uncertain for the remainder of 2008 and 2009 which includes the important January sale period.”br /br /Shares, which floated at 149p in 2005, closed at just 9p on Monday, giving it a market capitalisation of around £4.5 million. Despite the slump, Land of Leather said it would protect remaining shareholder value./blockquotebr /span class="fullpost"Based on the currently traded price of 6p it puts the market cap at £2.1m according to a href="http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q?s=lanm=Ld="Yahoo/a. However, the Irish Times wnet on to say it has £6.9m in cash with no debt:br /br /blockquoteIn October Land of Leather revealed that its annual pre-tax profits had dived to £2.3 million, ...

AFLAC Inc.'s (AFL) 3Q08 operating earnings of $493 million or $1.02 per diluted share were one penny ahead of our estimate and two pennies ahead of consensus, based on better-than-expected sales growth in its Japan operations. We anticipate modest improvement in AFL's Japan sales (which accounted for roughly 83% of its total revenue in 3Q08), as sales through the new channels (banks and the Japan Post network) gather momentum in the coming quarters, but the economic slowdown will hurt the U.S. sales. Further, increased losses in the investment portfolio will continue to impact the results. After reviewing the results, we are slightly increasing our FY08 and FY09 estimates but maintaining our Hold rating on the shares of AFL.Kalyan Nandy contributed to this report.Read the full analyst report on AFL "AFL" Free Stock Analysis: ...

Cogent, Inc.'s (...

PKey Newsbr•nbsp;Britain's services sector contracted at its fastest rate in at least 12 years, a closely-watched survey showed Wednesday, ratcheting up expectations that the Bank of England will cut interest rates by a full percentage point on Thursday. (AP)br•nbsp;The Australian economy grew at its slowest pace in eight years last quarter. (IHT)brKey Reports Due (WSJ):br7:00a.m. MBA Mortgage Application Survey for Nov 28: Previous: -2.1%. br8:30a.m. 3Q Productivityamp;Labor Costs, revised: Expected: +3.1%. Previous: +4.3%. br10:00a.m. Nov ISM Non-Mfg Index: Previous: 44.4. br10:35p.m. API Oil Industry Report for Nov 28 br10:35p.m. US Energy Dept Oil Inventories for Nov 28 br2:00p.m. Federal Reserve Beige Book /P PTomorrow (Time GMT):/P P12/4/2008nbsp;12:00 nbsp;UK nbsp;BOE ANNOUNCES RATESnbsp;2.50% nbsp;3.00% br12/4/2008nbsp;12:45 nbsp;EU nbsp;ECB Announces Interest Ratesnbsp;3.00% nbsp;3.25% /P PQuotable brThe world has run out of willing and creditworthy private borrowers. The spectacular collapse of the western financial system is a symptom of this big fact. In the short run, governments will ...

bSummary/bbrbr Bridge BioResearch plc is focused on innovative emerging drugs for the treatment of metabolic/lifestyle diseases. Its two lead candidates, currently advancing into clinical trials, are innovative drug concepts in the related fields of diabetes and obesity. With some glimmer of efficacy, and safety already in evidence, upcoming clinical validation could put the company on the road to lucrative upfront, milestone and royalty payments. pBKey points:/BBRBRul pli type=squarebDiamond in the rough?/b – Bridge is an unconventional company from an unconventional source financed in an unconventional way. However, the experienced management team, supported by a highly qualified group of scientific/clinical advisors, seems to be on track for what could be a very lucrative participation in what we view as an explosively dynamic segment of the market. pli type=squarebOur valuation analysis indicates that the current offering price level is conservative and fair/b – In a market where public prices have plummeted, it may seem a tall order to look for a pre money valuation of around £35 million. Our ...

h1 style="text-align: center;"bBank Nationalization/b/h1h2 style="text-align: center;"bspan class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"Bank Nationalization Day/span/b/h2a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tvshDVnXSLc/SS_l74vGpJI/AAAAAAAAAf4/J6EgOxMC024/s1600-h/RBS-DundasHouse.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tvshDVnXSLc/SS_l74vGpJI/AAAAAAAAAf4/J6EgOxMC024/s320/RBS-DundasHouse.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273686505679135890" border="0" //a Old HQ pictured. Following failure of shareholders to buy more than 0.24% (only £36m for 56m shares) of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group's £20bn share issue, RBS (1) (including Citizens Bank, USA, and NatWest Bank, England) today became the third to be formally nationalised (nearly 58%). The small take-up of the issue by existing shareholders had been expected as the offer price of 65.5p was 10p higher than the price at which the shares were trading, so those who did buy on paper lost £5m doing so. The share issue by RBS was part of the government's plan to recapitalise banks. The government will pay £15bn for the majority stake in the bank plus £5bn of ...