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businessweek.com

The pound dropped to its weakest level in more than 2 1/2 years versus the dollar before Bank of England policy makers announce their decision on whether they will add more stimulus to boost the U.K. economy.

The pound fell 0.2 percent to $1.4990 at 9:11 a.m. London time, after sliding to $1.4967, the lowest since July 13, 2010. Sterling declined 0.6 percent to 86.88 pence per euro.

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businessweek.com

The euro strengthened the most in a month against the dollar after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said data suggest the region’s economy will stabilize this year.

The ECB kept its benchmark rate at a record low of 0.75 percent as forecast by 56 of 61 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Five predicted a reduction to 0.5 percent.


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reuters.com

* Dollar/yen hits highest level since August 2009

* Euro/dollar slips but clings to bulk of Thursday's gains

* ECB wrong foots euro bears with optimistic comments


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businessspectator.com.au

The Australian dollar is slightly higher, trading in a tight range as traders await the release of key United States jobs data.

Early Saturday morning (Australian time), the US will release non-farm payrolls for February, its key measure of employment. CMC Markets senior trader Tim Waterer said the Australian dollar rose during the offshore session on Thursday night in anticipation of good jobs figures.

Meanwhile, Australian bond futures prices were lower at noon.


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dailyfx.com

Despite the knocks against it – the Federal Reserve is adding $1.02T to its balance sheet this year, the US labor market remains weak relative to previous periods of growth, and the political climate is nothing short of a disaster – the US Dollar is the top performing major currency through the first several weeks of 2013. Why though, given these prevalent concerns?


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dailyfx.com

• Australian Dollar Long Position Initiated vs. US Counterpart
• RBA, Glenn Stevens Scatter Interest Rate Cut Expectations
• Australian Dollar Gains as GDP Reinforces On-Hold RBA Bets

The Australian Dollar finds itself re-coupling with risk appetite trends as the specter of interest rate cuts is chased off by the Reserve Bank of Australia and investors are drawn to the highest yields in the G10 FX space. The central bank poured cold water on stimulus expectations last week, with RBA Governor Glenn Stevens saying that while an “accommodative stance of monetary policy is appropriate,” it appeared “prudent” to keep rates unchanged for now while the “substantial easing of policy as a result of previous decisions” works its way into the economy. Fourth-quarter GDP data reinforced the RBA’s position.


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seekingalpha.com

Friday, the Dollar soared against most competitors and the EUR/USD was dragged below the 1.3000 level to a fresh 3-month low of 1.2955. But the pair managed to recover some ground to close at 1.3000, 0.80% down on the day. In equities, Wall Street closed a historical week, with the Dow reaching a new all-time high at 14,413.17, and the S&P 500 extending its winning run to 6th session and posting 2% weekly gains.

What to do with a weak Euro?


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prweb.com

The world class organization EC Council Academy has initiated operations in Australia and New Zealand to train information security specialists in order to defeat hackers. Mr. Ravin Prasad, Director of the EC Council Academy in Australia & New Zealand states, “Australia is in urgent need of cyber security education.”


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forexcrunch.com

EUR/USD had an exciting week, rising on relative European stability but eventually giving in to the dollar’s strength. Will we see it climb up from the triple bottom or tumble down? Industrial production, the EU Economic Summit and ECB Monthly Bulletin are the major events this week. Here is an outlook on the main market-movers ahead.

While it wasn’t Draghi that provided the next kick lower, the euro has two basic reasons to fall. First, the weakness of the European economies is serious. France, Spain and Italy aren’t doing too well. And while German business indicators are strong, the economy is still showing signs of weakness, as seen in factory orders and industrial output.

The second reason is the strength of the US economy: the pace of the recovery is picking up, as seen in jobs and in the services sector PMI. And that builds on changing forex dynamics: the dollar now enjoys positive US data, something that wasn’t that common in the “risk on / risk off” environment.

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reuters.com

• Dollar near 3-1/2-year high vs yen, 3-month high vs euro
• U.S. job gains stoke speculation Fed may quit QE
• Aussie slips after China data disappointment
• Dollar/yen up 0.15 pct, Aussie/dollar down 0.1 pct

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