Foreign Exchange News

By Keiron Henderson LONDON (Reuters) - The FTSE 100 share index hit a 3-week high on Thursday, fired up by strong resources and bank stocks, although trading levels were modest ahead of a U.S. interest rate decision. Banks saw HSBC (HSBA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) gain 1.1 percent, while Barclays (BARC.L: Quote, Profile, Research)  ...

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones) -- Goodbye, Wall Street. Hello, Pennsylvania Avenue. The Senate on Wednesday confirmed President Bush's nomination of Henry Paulson to be the nation's next Treasury secretary. The Senate approved the nomination by voice vote. Bush nominated Paulson, the departing CEO of Goldman Sachs, earlier this month to replace John Snow, who has headed Treasury since 2003. Confirma ...

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Slight moves in the U.S. dollar and euro on Wednesday led to a lower close for gold and silver. The benchmark August gold contract settled $3.40 lower at $581 a troy ounce. During the session, the contract moved to a $589.40 an ounce session high but was unable to hold that level as the dollar rose against the euro. August gold later dipped to a $579.10 an ounce low. L ...

The dollar traded little changed against major foreign-exchange counterparts Wednesday, with investors reluctant to take large positions ahead of a much-anticipated interest-rate announcement by the Federal Reserve. Early action in the currencies market was quiet, reflecting the countdown to the Fed's policy deicision rates to be issued Thursday afternoon. The Fed, kicking off a two-day mone ...

By Laurence Fletcher LONDON (Reuters) - UK pension funds should cut their exposure to stocks from around 70 percent to between 20 and 25 percent in favour of the "absolute return" strategies used by some U.S. endowments, asset manager Insight Investment said on Tuesday. British pension funds, facing growing pressures from an ageing workforce and liabilities swollen by lower bond yields, have traditionally held high allocations in stocks and low weightings in alternative assets such as hedge fu ...

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones) -- Low taxes and open markets are keys to maintaining U.S. competitiveness on the global stage, Treasury Secretary-nominee Henry Paulson told senators on Tuesday. "If confirmed, I will focus intensely on how the United States can maintain and strengthen our competitive position," Paulson told the Senate Finance Committee in prepared testimony at his confirmation hearing.  ...

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Gold and silver futures fell Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. July silver futures raced to a two-week high of $10.62 an ounce. But the contract faced selling to settle at $10.195 an ounce, down 4.5 cents on the day. The benchmark August gold contract settled $3.30 lower at $584.40 an ounce. Earlier, the contract got as high as $599 a troy ounce on the heels ...

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones) -- Low taxes and open markets are keys to maintaining U.S. competitiveness on the global stage, Treasury Secretary-nominee Henry Paulson told senators on Tuesday. "If confirmed, I will focus intensely on how the United States can maintain and strengthen our competitive position," Paulson told the Senate Finance Committee in prepared testimony at his confirmation hearing.  ...

NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- Alarmed by a sharp depreciation of the lira, rising inflation pressure and a steep selloff of Turkish shares, the Turkish central bank at an emergency Sunday meeting raised interest rates for the second time this month. Policymakers hiked the overnight rate by a startling 225 basis points to 17.25%. The move comes after a 175-basis-point hike on June 7 and intervention i ...

Mon 26th Jun 2006 Students in full-time education and over the age of 18 will soon be able to take advantage of a new interest free overdraft offer on the Halifax Student Current Account. A balance of two per cent gross on credit balances and interest free overdrafts increasing from £1750 in the first year are being offered as part of a new deal on the Halifax Student Current Accou ...