Risk Aversion Increased Before France Sells Debt - 5.1.2012

US Dollar Asian stocks were mixed today with Japanese shares moving lower amid investors’ concerns about the European debt crisis. Japanese Nikkei dropped 0.83% to 8488.71. The major US indices were almost unchanged yesterday with S&P 500 rising 0.02% to 1277.30. The dollar rose against its major counterparts, while the currency’s index which tracks the greenback against a set of six currencies climbed above 80. From the United States we are expecting today an Institute’s for Supply Management report that will probably show service industries expanded in December. The ISM’s non-manufacturing index climbed to 53 from 52 in November, according to preliminary estimations. ADP Employer Services will release private employment figures, which probably gained 175000 in December. Euro The euro weakened toward its multi-month lows against the greenback and multi-year lows against the Japanese yen before France plans to sells as much as 8 billion euros of debt today, while international rating agencies are planning to review the nation’s credit standing. The spread of French 10-year notes over equal German debt is close to 140 basis points, while the spread between the debt of Netherlands, also rated AAA as France, and the debt of Germany is less than 40 basis points. The euro fell from 1.3074 to 1.2936 yesterday and slid to 1.2910 at the beginning of the European trading session today. Against the Japanese yen the euro set a new 11-year low at 99.04.