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May 29th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda NEW YORK (Reuters) – The euro neared a two-year low against the dollar on Tuesday as markets fretted about Spain‘s troubled banking system while Facebook‘s slide below $30 trimmed Wall Street’s earlier gains.
The euro, down sharply in midday trade, fell further below $1.25 after Egan-Jones Ratings cut Spain’s credit score, the third downgrade in less than a month, saying efforts to support Spanish banks were putting new strains on public finances.
Spanish stocks also tumbled and Spain’s borrowing costs held near six-month highs after a source said the government would issue new debt to recapitalize troubled lender Bankia.
Speculation that a Wednesday European Commission meeting would adopt a new strategy to deal with Europe‘s debt crisis had helped boost U.S. and European stocks earlier, as did talk of imminent stimulus spending to boost Chinese growth.
Crude oil slipped after the Spanish downgrade after rising earlier on hopes for Chinese economic stimulus. Fears of Middle East supply disruptions also weighed on oil.
U.S. stocks also shed about half their gains after shares of social network Facebook dove below $30, extending a losing streak since the controversial market debut on May 18. That weighed most on the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index.
But overall, U.S. equities took their cue from events overseas, and investors were looking on the bright side of the Europe story, cheered by Greek polls showing a pro-bailout party had opened up a lead ahead of a June 17 election. If that holds, the chances of Greece quitting the euro zone would fall.
In Ireland, voters look ready to approve, reluctantly, the EU fiscal treaty on Thursday.
“We’ve got a ray of sunshine breaking out over Europe this morning that is spilling across the Atlantic,” said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson Co in Lake Oswego, Oregon.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 74.70 points, or 0.60 percent, at 12,529.53. The Standard Poor’s 500 Index was up 6.87 points, or 0.52 percent, at 1,324.69. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 11.64 points, or 0.41 percent, at 2,849.17.
Traders also appear to be anticipating better-than-expected economic news this week. May jobs and Institute for Supply Management reports are due on Friday, Dickson said.
The FTSEurofirst 300 rose 0.9 percent at 992.68, and MSCI’s all-country world equity index rose 1.1 percent to 304.10. Spain’s IBEX was down 1.8 percent, paring a full percentage point of losses.
There was still a high degree of caution regulating trading gin the bond markets, though.
U.S. government debt prices rose and the yield on Germany’s 10-year bond hit a record low as doubts grew over Spain’s plan to recapitalize its banks and obtain finance for its struggling regional governments.
“It’s mostly how you solve the Spanish bank problem, so there’s a bit of safe-haven buying,” said David Keeble, global head of interest rates strategy at Credit Agricole Corporate Investment Banking in New York.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note was up 10/32 in price to yield 1.71 percent. Benchmark 10-year German Bund yields touched a new low before edging up to 1.356 percent. The June Bund futures contract also hit a record high of 144.58, but later traded down at 144.29.
Spanish 10-year government bond yields hit 6.53 percent on Monday, the highest since November. A rise above 7 percent proved the tipping point that forced other euro zone countries such as Portugal and Ireland to seek emergency rescues.
Kathy Lien, director of research at GFT Forex in Jersey City, said such a spike could add to pressure on the euro.
Current prices, she said, “suggest everyone who wants to be short the euro is already short,” but “the next catalyst could come from a rise above 7 percent in Spanish yields, which would accelerate selling.”
Markets barely reacted after a private sector report showed U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly cooled in May, falling to the lowest level in four months, as Americans became more pessimistic about the job market and economic outlook.
Another report showed U.S. home prices edged higher for the second month in a row in March, suggesting prices are stabilizing as the housing recovery gains momentum.
U.S. light sweet crude oil fell 20 cents, or 0.24 percent, to $90.6 per barrel, while Brent edged down 0.5 percent to $106.56 a barrel. Spot gold prices fell $13.27, or 0.84 percent, to $1,559.50.
(Additional reporting by Richard Hubbard in London; Editing by Kenneth Barry)
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