User:Afhorahzusx

Beats By Dr Dre TREASURIES WEAKEN

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The blue-chip Dow Jones index extended its record-breaking run on Wednesday and world stock markets edged higher, led by strong gains in Asia, while the euro slid against the U.S. dollar a day before a European Central Bank meeting.

Bets that the ECB at its policy meeting on Thursday could signal future interest-rate cuts pressured the euro. The Bank of Japan will begin a two-day meeting on Thursday, but it is expected to hold its fire this week.

U.S. data showing a steady manufacturing sector and strong gains in private employment supported equity markets. Stocks, despite record highs, are still at attractive valuations,Beats By Dr Dre, analysts said.

"When you reach a record high it triggers introspection about whether we're over-valued, but I don't expect a pullback because the reasons we've climbed are still in place," said David Joy, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial in Boston. "The market has the opportunity to move higher until there's evidence those factors will die out."

The S&P 500 index is trading at 13.6 times estimated 12-month earnings, compared with around 14.9 times in October 2007, when the index hit its record high, just 1.5 percent higher than Wednesday's close.

After the closing bell on Wall Street,Beats By Dre, the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was up 42.47 points, or 0.3 percent, at 14,296.24, a record high. The S&P 500 .SPX gained 1.67 points,Beats By Dr Dre, or 0.11 percent, to 1,541.46 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 1.77 points, or 0.05 percent, to 3,Beats By Dr Dre,222.36.

The MSCI world index .MIWD00000PUS rose 0.15 percent.

U.S. dollar-traded Nikkei futures added 2.2 percent. Overnight in Asia, the Nikkei .N225 hit its highest in 4-1/2 years, helped by prospects of a reflationary policy in Japan to revive growth.

EURO, TREASURIES WEAKEN

Better-than-expected U.S. private-sector jobs figures reported by payrolls processor ADP on Wednesday dented the allure of Treasuries. The figures come two days ahead of the government's closely watched monthly payrolls report.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note was down 13/32, the yield at a seven-day high of 1.9409 percent.

"We had ADP employment data today which surprised to the upside and that helped take (yields) higher," said Jake Lowery, Treasury trader at ING Investment Management in Atlanta.

"We have got supply coming next week,Beats By Dr Dre, right around the corner after payrolls,Beats By Dre, and it seems that with Treasuries trading in a pretty tight range lately, more and more market participants are focusing on small opportunities around the supply calendar."

The U.S. Treasury is set to auction three-year and 10-year notes next week, along with 30-year bonds.

In currency trading,Lady Gaga Monster, the euro fell against the U.S. dollar ahead of the ECB meeting.

"The market has turned dovish on the ECB and that kept the euro constrained," said Vassili Serebriakov, currency strategist at BNP Paribas in New York. "While most are expecting the ECB to keep rates steady, there are a few calls for a rate cut tomorrow, including our bank."

The euro was down 0.5 percent against the greenback at $1.2988.

The dollar also strengthened against the Japanese currency, hitting a one-week high above 94 yen.

The market is turning its attention to the BoJ's April 3-4 meeting, the first policy review under its new governor, Haruhiko Kuroda, who is an advocate of aggressive monetary easing.

Copper slumped after a two-day rebound, weighed by uncertainty about metals demand in China, the world's top consumer,Beats By Dr Dre, and economic growth in Europe.

Three-month copper fell 0.85 percent to $7,690 a ton, erasing initial gains that took it above $7,812.

Areas of concern for the global economy remain, including the Chinese government's move to cool the country's overheated property market, the possible economic impact of U.S. spending cuts and political deadlock in Italy.

Brent oil pared losses to settle down 0.5 percent at $111.06 a barrel, while U.S. crude briefly slipped below $90 before settling down 0.4 percent at $90.43.

U.S. crude oil inventories rose more than forecast last week while distillates stocks fell more than expected as refinery utilization rates posted a surprise drop, data from the Energy Information Administration showed on Wednesday.

Gold rose in late trading on expectations central banks would maintain loose monetary policy, but still in the tight price range of recent sessions.

Spot gold was up 0.5 percent $1,582.50 an ounce.

(Additional reporting by Luciana Lopez, Leah Schnurr, Ryan Vlastelica, Chris Reese and Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Dan Grebler and Leslie Adler)

Lady Gaga Monster For Sale Another tool at the ECB's disposa

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - European Central Bank President Mario Draghi faces intense pressure from investors,Lady Gaga Monster For Sale, European leaders and even the United States to deliver on Thursday on his pledge to do whatever it takes to save the euro.

Draghi will face the biggest test of his nine months' leadership of the central bank when it meets later in the day,Beats By Dre, and any signs that he overplayed his hand when making the pledge a week ago could see markets punish the euro zone.

The ECB has little margin for error to maintain its credibility and avoid bond yields climbing in the indebted countries on the euro zone periphery.

The market's faith in Draghi will be tested before the 1230 GMT post-meeting press conference by a Spanish bond auction that could see its debt costs rise,Beats By Dre.

"Draghi has unfortunately painted himself into a corner," JP Morgan analyst Pavan Wadhwa said in a conference call.

"The ECB does need to demonstrate its credibility ... Otherwise Draghi will lose face completely,Beats By Dre."

While central bank sources have told Reuters that bold action is probably at least five weeks away, Draghi may offer some clues on what is in the offing. He said last Thursday that the political capital invested in the euro is often underestimated.

"Within our mandate,Lady Gaga Monster, the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. And believe me, it will be enough," Draghi told an investment conference in London.

Spanish and Italian bond yields fell markedly after Draghi's speech, and inaction could send them higher again.

"We could see markets going back to where they were before last Thursday," said Nordea analyst Anders Svendsen,Beats By Dr Dre, who expects more words but little concrete action from the meeting.

Other countries, especially the United States, have sought to raise pressure on the ECB to act. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the euro zone must take steps to bring down borrowing costs in troubled member states.

GERMAN DISSENT

The ECB has already bought bonds through its Sovereign Markets Programme (SMP), spending more than 210 billion euros on them so far, and re-employing an existing tool would avoid the legal battles that any novel measures could face.

While the SMP is widely viewed as having had very limited success, it is at least available immediately and could be used in a new form, combining it with the EFSF bailout fund.

The ECB could use the SMP to buy bonds after Spain makes a formal request to the EFSF and also commits to reforms.

"Based on Draghi's comments a restart of SMP (or EFSF/ESM) buying appears the most likely response," Danske Bank's Allan von Mehren and Anders Moller Lumholtz said in a note.

ECB action is hamstrung by EU rules forbidding it to finance governments. The ECB issued a legal opinion in March 2011 ruling out perhaps the biggest gun,Lady Gaga Monster, giving the ESM bailout fund rights to tap the ECB for funds to increase its firepower.

Draghi himself has argued against the move, but last week Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny broke ranks and said it could be advantageous to give the ESM a banking licence that would allow it to borrow. Some ECB watchers believe the move was a trial balloon sent up in coordination with the ECB leadership.

The ECB also has to find a way to get any measures past Germany, the euro zone's largest economy and its principal paymaster. The Bundesbank issues regular reminders of inflationary dangers stemming from non-standard measures such as bond purchases and the limits central banks face.

On Wednesday, the German central bank released an interview with Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann, where he said that "politicians overestimate the central bank's capacity and place too many demands of it".

The dilemma for Europe is that too little action now could create bigger problems later. If borrowing costs don't come down, forcing both Spain and Italy to seek aid, the ESM's 500 billion euro capacity would soon be depleted,Beats By Dre, and it would need more funds.

"I think that's a bridge that doesn't need to be crossed yet," JP Morgan economist David Mackie said in a conference call.

NO RATE CUT EXPECTED

Another tool at the ECB's disposal, lowering interest rates, is unlikely to be used again so soon after it cut its main refinancing rate to a record low of 0.75 percent in July. A Reuters poll showed that economists see another decrease in interest rates before the end of the year, but only seven out of 70 expected it to cut again this month.

As the crisis has intensified, the euro has taken a hit in foreign exchange markets. It has fallen about 15 percent in the past year to trade at $1.23. On a trade-weighed basis it trades at nine-year lows.

The falling euro is likely to delay the day when inflation falls below the ECB's target of 2 percent. In July, it remained at 2.4 percent. It also assuages fears of deflation, however, a spectre that could otherwise have prompted the ECB to consider large-scale bond buying.

"To move into large-scale asset purchases from purely monetary stance motivation will take a while," J.P. Morgan's Mackie said. "It's certainly not going to happen ... until we get into next year."

(Reporting by Sakari Suoninen; Editing by Will Waterman)