Euro, US stocks slip on Greece

NEW YORK: The euro fell and US stocks slipped on Friday on concerns the Greek parliament may shoot down new austerity measures, eclipsing better-than-expected US and German data.

The euro briefly pared losses against the dollar and US Treasuries prices extended early losses after a government report on new orders for long-lasting US manufactured goods came in stronger for May than economists had forecast.

Durable goods orders increased 1.9 percent after dropping 2.7 percent in April, the Commerce Department said. Economists had expected May's orders to rise 1.5 percent.

The euro rose as high as 1.4309 after the data, compared with $1.4223 moments before the report. But it was last at $1.4197, down 0.4 percent on the day.

Concerns that Greece's parliament may not pass the austerity measures needed for the country to secure a further bailout weighed on the euro.

"The market is very jittery today. The economic data is being pushed to the back burner mainly because there is so much uncertainty as to whether the Greek government is going to pass the austerity measures," said Boris Schlossberg, director of FX research at GFT in New York.

Parliament is scheduled to vote on the austerity plan on Wednesday and Thursday.

Global stocks rose but US stocks slipped on lingering concerns about the European debt crisis.

World stocks as measured by MSCI's all-country world index were up 0.3 percent after trimming early stronger gains.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 61.50 points, or 0.51 percent, at 11,988.50. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 5.51 points, or 0.43 percent, to 1,277.99. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 14.65 points, or 0.55 percent, at 2,672.10.

German Bund futures rose slightly as jittery traders sought safe-haven assets on reports that the euro zone's permanent rescue mechanism could face further hurdles.

The Bund future gained 8 ticks on the day at 127.27, after earlier hitting a session low of 126.73.

US Treasuries were little changed. The benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was up 3/32 in price to yield 2.90 percent.

Copper rose more than 1 percent after a stronger-than-expected reading of business sentiment in Germany added to the view the German economy continues to improve.

The Munich-based Ifo think tank said its business climate index, based on a monthly survey of some 7,000 firms, rose to 114.5 in June from an originally reported 114.2 in May.

"We saw good economic data out of Germany ... which came in above expectations," Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann said.

Oil's sharp sell-off on Thursday paused as the impact of a surprise announcement on the release of emergency fuel stocks from consumer nations faded.

ICE Brent August crude, the main gauge for world oil demand, fell 76 cents to $106.50 a barrel. US crude futures traded flat at $91.02, their close on Thursday.

Brent fell about 6 percent on Thursday after the International Energy Agency announced the release of 60 million barrels of government-held stocks over the next 30 days.

Copyright Reuters, 2011