Forex News and Rumors – Afternoon Update

Wall Street holds gains after stress test assumptions
Stocks held gains on Friday after the government released a much anticipated concept paper on stress tests for the 19 biggest U.S. banks.
The U.S. Federal Reserve said on Friday that the top 19 U.S. banks need to hold a “substantial” amount of capital above regulatory requirements to weather a potential worsening of the economic recession. More

Dollar falls against euro
The euro rose for a fourth straight day against the dollar on Friday as improved German business sentiment added to a string of better-than-expected data, raising hopes that the euro-zone economy has bottomed.
Demand for dollars also fell as extreme risk aversion eased and stocks in Europe and the United States rose. High risk aversion recently has increased safe-haven flows into the dollar. More

New home sales show signs of revival
Sales of newly constructed homes are showing indications, ever so slight, that the housing decline may be near an end, a government report showed Friday.
The Commerce Department said new home sales fell 0.6% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 356,000. But that was from a rate of 358,000 in February that was revised up from the originally reported at 337,000 — the level economists were expecting for March. More

US banks told to elevate capital buffers
US banks are being told to establish substantial capital buffers above the levels set out in minimum capital ratios following the completion of bank stress tests, a senior Federal Reserve official said on Friday.
The capital buffers are intended to ensure that the top 19 banks would be able to comfortably survive a deeper than expected recession. More

Weak banks won’t be allowed to fail: Fed
The U.S. Federal Reserve Board says the government is prepared to rescue any of the banks that underwent stress tests and were deemed vulnerable if the recession worsened sharply.
The Fed says the 19 companies that hold one-half of the loans in the U.S. banking system won’t be allowed to fail — even if they fared poorly on the stress tests. More

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