Asia

BOJ Upbeat On Regional Economies, Reassures Easy Policy To Stay. The Bank of Japan kept its upbeat assessment for all of the country's nine regions, saying a moderate recovery was taking hold and bolstering views the economy is on track to meet the central bank's price target without more monetary stimulus. But central bank governor, Haruhiko Kuroda, stressed his resolve to maintain the massive stimulus program for as long as necessary to sustainably achieve its 2 % inflation target, reassuring markets that an exit from the ultra-loose policy was still distant. "The BOJ will examine upside and downside risks to the economy and prices, and adjust monetary policy as needed," he told a meeting of the BOJ's regional branch managers on Monday. (Reuters)

USA

Part-Time Jobs Surge Takes Little Away From U.S. Labor Recovery. A surge in part-time employment that was behind last month’s drop in the U.S. jobless rate takes little away from the overall picture of steady progress in the labor markets, economists say. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ survey of households showed the number of people working part time for economic reasons rose in June by the most in a year. Some 275,000 more Americans worked less than 35 hours a week because they were unable to find full-time jobs or their hours were cut back. (Bloomberg)

Longer-Term Treasuries Rise As Jobs Growth Doesn’t Sway Fed View. Longer-term Treasuries rose, pushing 10-and 30-year yields lower amid speculation an uptick in inflation and acceleration in the U.S. job market won’t be enough to pressure the Federal Reserve into raising rates soon. The yield on the 30-year bond dropped for the first time in four days even as a report last week showed U.S. employers added more jobs in June than forecast and the unemployment rate dropped to an almost six-year low. The difference between the yields on five-year notes and 30-year bonds narrowed to 1.70 %age points before the Fed releases minutes of its June meeting on July 9. The U.S. will sell $61 billion in notes and bonds this week. (Bloomberg)

Europe

Euro Zone Sentix Index Shows Surprise Rise In July. Sentiment in the euro zone showed a surprise improvement in July with investor optimism boosted by the European Central Bank's growth measures and improved expectations for the global economy, according to the Sentix index survey. The Sentix research group's index tracking morale among investors in the euro zone hit 10.1 in July versus 8.5 the previous month, rising after two consecutive monthly falls. The consensus forecast in a Reuters poll had been for the sentiment index to fall again in July to 8.0 but the increase came in above even the highest forecasts. (Reuters)

German Industrial Production Sees Surprise Drop In May. German industrial production saw its biggest drop in two years in May, weighed down by sharp falls in the construction and manufacturing sectors. Industrial production fell 1.8% in May from April, according to the country's statistics agency Destatis. The fall was a surprise, with the majority of economists expecting industrial output to be unchanged. Destatis also cut April's industrial production figure slightly to -0.3%. Germany's statistics agency blamed the timing of May bank holidays and weakness in the construction sector for the fall, but said "geopolitical factors" may also have had an effect. (BBC)

Greek Central Banker Warns Political Risk Could Threaten Recovery. Greece's newly appointed central bank chief said on Monday that political uncertainty around a presidential election scheduled for 2015 is the main risk to the debt-laden country's economic recovery. Yannis Stournaras, the former finance minister, reiterated that he expected moderate growth of about 0.5 % of GDP this year, but in his first comments on politics since taking over as central bank governor last month said there were still downside risks to the economic outlook. "The main risk is due to political uncertainty, related to the election of a new president in early 2015," Stournaras told investors at a Eurobank forum. Other challenges included a slowdown in the global economy and geopolitical risks in Russia and Ukraine, which could hurt exports, he said. (Reuters)

Greece Resists Troika On Third Bailout As Draghi Protests Delays. Greece fought off calls to consider a third bailout as European Central Bank President Mario Draghi warned that the pace of economic fixes is slowing, officials said after euro-area finance ministers met yesterday. Greece has ruled out further aid -- which would come with another raft of conditions -- after its current rescue ends, a Greek official told reporters in Brussels. According to the so-called troika of International Monetary Fund, ECB and euro-area authorities, Greece may need one anyway, an EU official said. (Bloomberg)

Currencies

Dollar Strengthens For Fourth Day On Rate Speculation. The dollar continued to rise for a fourth straight session on Monday as traders considered whether the solid U.S. jobs report for June will put pressure on the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates sooner than expected. The ICE dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against a basket of its rivals, rose 0.02% to 80.227, marking its highest level in almost two weeks, according to FactSet data. The euro was up slightly against the dollar, with the shared currency trading at $1.3607, versus $1.3604 late Thursday. The greenback slipped against the yen and traded down 0.4% at ¥101.87, from ¥102.21 late Thursday. (Market Watch)

Commodities

Brent, U.S. Crude Oil Fall As Supply Fears Fade. Brent and U.S. crude oil futures fell on Monday to the lowest levels in a month as Libya prepared to resume oil exports from two ports closed nearly a year, and as supply from Iraq remained unaffected by violence sweeping the OPEC country. Brent dipped 40 cents to settle at $110.24 a barrel, the lowest settlement since June 11. Brent had climbed to a nine-month high of $115.71 in June amid the Iraqi crisis, but has since dropped more than 4 %. U.S. oil lost 53 cents to settle at $103.53 a barrel, the lowest settlement since June 6. It was the seventh straight daily decline, the longest in U.S. oil since December 2009. (Reuters)

Gold Down As Dollar Rises On U.S. Rate Hike Talk. Gold fell on Monday after stronger-than-expected monthly U.S. jobs data boosted talk of an early interest rate hike, even as traders looked for other factors to help direction. The spot price of gold was down 0.2 % to $1,317.11 an ounce by 2:30 p.m. EDT (1830 GMT). Among other precious metals, silver was down nearly 1 % at $20.92 an ounce, while platinum was up 0.1 % to $1,489.50 an ounce. Palladium rose 0.7 % to $865.22 an ounce after reaching a 13-year high of $867 on strong demand from the auto industry, which uses the metal in catalytic converters. (Reuters)