The greenback strengthened against all but four of its 16
major counterparts today.
The greenback's biggest gain came versus the South
Korean won, which dropped amid concern authorities will take
steps to weaken the currency.
Australia’s dollar sank 0.5 percent and touched the lowest level since January after retail sales grew less than economists forecast. The yen weakened through 110 per dollar for the first time since August 2008 and the euro approached a two-year low.
According to the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, tracking the greenback against 10 major peers, the U.S. currency strengthened 6.7 percent last quarter, the biggest advance since the third quarter of 2008.
An ADP Research Institute report may show that U.S. companies added more workers after hiring 204,000 in August. Separate data may show manufacturing in the world’s largest economy continued to expand last month.
Euro-area manufacturing expanded at the slowest pace in 14 months, according to today’s Purchasing Managers’ Indexes from Markit Economics. The gauge stood at 50.3 in September, just above the 50 mark that divides expansion from contraction, and below a preliminary estimate of 50.5.
The Stoxx 600 fell today after climbing 0.4 percent last quarter, a fifth increase and the longest stretch since 2006.
According to data compiled by Bloomberg, the volume of Stoxx 600 shares changing hands today was 12 percent greater than the 30-day average.
Futures on the S&P 500 expiring in December slipped less than 0.1 percent today after the index trimmed a seventh quarterly gain, the longest streak since 1998.
EBay Inc. plunged 1.9 percent in German trading after JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Jefferies Group LLC lowered their outlooks for the stock.
Emerging market stocks fell for a fifth day and currencies slid amid prospects for higher U.S. interest rates. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell 0.2 percent to the lowest level in almost five months.
In Hong Kong, pro-democracy protests entered a sixth day with markets in the city and China closed for holidays. The demonstrations swelled on the eve of a two-day break that may bring record numbers to rallies spreading throughout Hong Kong as organizers pressed demands for free elections.
The Russian ruble weakened for a fifth day, approaching the level where the central bank intervenes to slow declines. The currency yesterday temporarily slipped beyond the threshold after officials said policy makers are weighing capital controls if the flow of money out of the country intensifies. The ruble recovered most losses after the central bank said it wasn’t considering imposing the limits.
Greek Bonds
The Financial Times earlier reported that European Central Bank President Mario Draghi was pushing the institution to purchase Greek and Cypriot bank loans with ratings below investment grade. This caused Greek bonds to climb up for the first time in four days. Greek 10-year yields dropped 17 basis points to 6.33 percent.
Portugal’s 10-year yield fell eight basis points to 3.06 percent and Spain’s dropped five basis points to 2.09 percent.
After
slumping 12 percent in the third quarter, the most since 2008, the Bloomberg Commodity Index was little changed.
Platinum, used in automobile catalytic converters, fell as much
as 2.5 percent to $1,268.5 an ounce, the lowest since October
2009, and corn futures declined to the lowest since Sept. 22,
2009.
West Texas Intermediate oil climbed 0.4 percent to $91.5 a barrel, after tumbling 3.6 percent yesterday, the biggest drop since November 2012.
