Athens, Greece (4E) – Fitch Ratings downgraded the credit rating of Greece’s government again on Thursday.

Greece’s credit rating dropped from a B- to a CCC, which puts it deeper into junk bond territory. That means many investors cannot buy Greek debt even if they thought it was a good investment.

The drop in ratings also increases the risk that Greece may not be able to hold on to its membership in the Economic and Monetary Union.

In addition, Fitch downgraded Greece’s short-term foreign currency rating to C from B.

Greece is now operating under a caretaker government with elections scheduled for next month. Fitch cited the increased risk that Greece could be forced to leave the eurozone following those elections.

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New York, NY, United States (4E) – U.S. markets suffered from the Monday morning blues, with the Dow down nearly 100 points on the open.

Jittery investors have a close eye on development from European ministers who are meeting over the next two days. On the agenda, the finance chiefs will be discussing how to raise the profile of growth objectives across Europe, as well as allowing for continued discussions on plans for bank capital rules.

There will also be plenty of words about the state of Greece, as concerns grow that the debt-ridden country may scar the stability of the eurozone currency, and may have to drop out of the 17-nation region and go back to the drachma.

Greek bonds on Monday jumped another 2.56 percentage points to 27.3 percent. The yield on the Spanish 10-year bond climbed 0.32 points to 6.33 percent, also stoking new worries.

On the domestic front, the Dow tumbled 98 points right out of the gate, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slumped 15 points and the NASDAQ lost 26 points.

U.S. equities were reeling not simply from overseas woes, but also from from the JP Morgan fallout. After the banking giant reported a $ 2 billion loss on Friday, Fitch Ratings downed the company’s debt after the closing bell. Shares, down 9 percent on Friday, lost another 1 percent Monday morning.

In addition, Yahoo’s board ousted CEO Scott Thompson after news surfaced about a week ago that the man brought in to turn around the struggling Internet company embellished his resume.

In world markets, Asia ended the day mixed, while all European stocks were sharply lower in midday trading.

In currencies and commodities, the dollar gained against the euro, but fell versus the Japanese yen and the British pound.

Oil for June delivery slid $ 2.01 to $ 94.12 a barrel.

The perennial safe haven, gold, looked anything but in early trading, plummeting $ 22.40 to $ 1,561.60 a troy ounce.

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Arlington, VA, United States (AHN) – Mortgage rates fell to new lows again for the week ended May 10, with the 30-year averaging 3.83 percent.

Freddie Mac said in a statement Thursday, “Following April’s weaker than expected employment report and the French and Greek election results raising concerns over the stability of the eurozone, long-term Treasury bond yields declined, allowing fixed mortgage rates to ease to new all-time lows this week.”

The rate for the 30-year averaged 3.84 percent in the prior week and 4.63 percent in the same period a year ago.

Rates on the 15-year fixed mortgage averaged 3.05 percent in the latest week, down from 3.07 percent last week and 3.82 percent a year ago.

According to Freddie Mac, average interest rates on five-year Treasury indexed hybrid adjustable mortgages averaged 2.81 percent, down from 2.85 percent last week and 3.41 percent from a year ago.

Rates for 30-year conforming mortgages also fell to a record low in the Mortgage Bankers Association weekly survey released Wednesday.

The MBA also reported that mortgage applications increased 1.7 percent in the current period, a hopeful sign for the ailing housing market.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – U.S. markets rose right out of the gate Thursday after several days of heavy losses.

Just after the opening bell on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 40 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 8 points and the NASDAQ added 5.

Investors have a slew of economic data to sift through Thursday. Market participants seemed to shrug off reports on the widening U.S. trade deficit and jobless claims data that came in pretty close to expectations.

And then there was the ongoing uncertainty in Europe that has been plaguing markets for months, a weaker-than-expected report from China and a disappointing outlook on business spending from network giant Cisco.

Despite the plethora of U.S. economic reports, the main focus remains on Europe as Greek politicians continue to struggle to form a coalition government and Spanish bond yield continue to rise.

On Thursday, socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos was given the mandate to form a coalition government after meeting with the Greek president. This came after the Greek leftist party failed.

The Bank of Spain, meanwhile, moved to take over Bankia, one of the country’s most troubled and biggest banks on Monday, and worries in the ailing nation have pushed bond yields up

China reported import and export growth that was slower than expected.

In corporate news, Cisco slid after providing a disappointing forecast.

Asian markets ended the day mixed. European stocks gained after early losses and were up in midday trading.

The dollar fell against the euro and the British pound, but gained against the Japanese yen.

Oil for June delivery tacked on 71 cents to $ 97.52 a barrel.

Gold futures for June delivery lost $ 1 to $ 1,593.20 a troy ounce.

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United Arab Emirates David Rosenberg / The Med – Islamic bonds (sukuk) are set to become the big hit of the Middle East’s financial markets this year as low costs, a contracting European banking industry and a rising tide of religion across the region spur interest from borrowers and investors alike.

Dubai gave the segment a lift last week when investors climbed over themselves for two issues of sovereign sukuk worth $ 1.25 billion. The strong demand was reflected in pricing of 4.9 percent for the five-year bond, a record low for dollar-denominated bonds issued by the emirate, and 6.45 percent for the 10-year issue.

Sukuk issues were already on the ascent in the first quarter when the global total grew to $ 43 billion from $ 21 billion in the final three months of 2011, according to figures from Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank (NCB). In the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, the value of sukuk issues reached $ 8.6 billion in the first quarter, up from $ 3.3 billion in the previous quarter, it said.

NCB says the best growth is yet to come. “Global sukuk issuance this year appears on track for another all-time record, with last year’s $ 85.4 billion set to be comfortably exceeded even under the more cautious projections. In view of current trends it appears likely that aggregate issuance will clearly exceed $ 100 billion this year,” it said in an April 22 report.

Malik Muhammad M. Al-Awan, an adviser to Malaysia’s Hong Leong Islamic Bank and Hong Leong MSIG in Malaysia, told a conference this month that sukuk financing could reach as much as $ 125 billion in 2012.

Sukuk (Arabic for “legal instruments’) are securities that comply with Islamic law, or sharia, by not paying interest. They mimic the cash flow of conventional bonds by paying holders the equivalent of rent together with a promise by the issuer to buy back the principal amount. Malaysia is by far the world leader in sukuk issues, accounting for about two thirds of the global market, but the Middle East is catching up.

One reason, said Capital Economics’ Middle East economist Said Hirsh, is that Europe’s financially troubled banks are paring back lending in the Gulf. He estimates they provide about 10 percent of total credit to non-bank borrowers in the Gulf, much of it short-term debt that they are unlikely to roll over as they retrench. Local banks will be able to pick up only part of the slack, he said.

“Sukuk issuance could therefore become an attractive option, given the low yields and strong demand from investors,” Capital said in a report last week. “The rapidly growing sharia-compliant fund management industry is still struggling to find suitable assets to invest in.”

Malaysia has emerged as the world leader in sukuk financing, with the GCC countries a distant second, despite their being the home of Islam and enjoying a combined economy many times larger than Malaysia. Saudi Arabia hosts the world’s biggest Islamic banking industry.

NCB attributes Malaysia’s leadership to the fact that Kuala Lumpur both encourages sukuk and regulates it, with a central sharia-compliance board, favorable tax treatment and well-developed trading markets. By contrast, GCC countries have taken a much more laissez faire approach – no regulation of sharia compliancy and no specialized regulations for the market – that has slowed development of new products, says NCB.

Trading in the organized secondary markets in the Gulf region is small. Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul market, the biggest, saw only six transactions worth 369.8 million Saudi riyals ($ 98.6 million) in the first quarter, which was nevertheless almost five times its level in the previous three months. But Saudi Arabia is taking the lead in sukuk as the government encourages companies to raise investment funds, overtaking the UAE in the first quarter of 2012.

The kingdom issued its first sovereign-backed bond – a $ 4 billion fundraising for its state aviation agency in January – and private companies tapping the market. Last week, Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) completed a $ 1.75 billion dual-tranche sukuk issue in what was called the largest international debt bond ever out of the kingdom. Earlier this month, Banque Saudi Fransi, a Saudi Arabian lender part-owned by France’s Credit Agricole SA, set up a $ 2 billion Islamic bond program as part of plans to diversify its sources of financing.

Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), one of the world’s leading manufacturers of chemicals, got approval last December for a sukuk issue of up to $ 5 billion. It issued its first sukuk bond only in 2006.

Elsewhere in the Gulf, sukuk issues are on the way as well. In Dubai, Emirates Islamic Bank, a unit of Emirates NBD, sold $ 500 million of securities in January and a month later the mall and hotel operator Majid Al-Futtaim Holding sold $ 400 million. But Capital Economics doubts that Dubai’s government-related companies will be able to tap the sukuk market even though they have some $ 12 billion in debt coming due this year because investors are skeptical about their restructuring plans.

Outside the Gulf, the appeal of Islamic finance is growing in the rest of the Middle East and North Africa as Islamists increase their political powers in elections, according to a report last months by TheCityUK’s Islamic Finance Secretariat.

Egypt, where Islamists dominate the newly elected parliament, is weighing issuing a sovereign sukuk worth some $ 2 billion as it tries to plug a financing gap, while Tunisia, where the Islamist Ennahda Party won elections last year, has set up a working group to study how to develop Islamic finance in the country and may issue a sovereign sukuk bond to help cover a budget deficit.

The Banker magazine estimates that only 12 percent of Muslims worldwide use Islamic financial products, with the percentage as low as 4-5 percent in Egypt and Turkey.

“Leading countries for Islamic finance should provide fertile ground for future growth, although the long-term impact of political unrest on development of Islamic finance in some Middle Eastern countries, such as Egypt, remains to be seen,” the TheCityUK report said.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Dow stocks stocks staged a rally Monday morning boosted by strong retail sales data.

Shorty after 10 a.m. on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 64 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was off 2 points and the NASDAQ was lower by 29 points

U.S. stocks were buoyed following a report from the Commerce Department that revealed retail sales rose 0.8 percent in March, better than the 0.3 percent that analysts had been expecting, and climbing from a revised 1 percent in February.

The number shows that consumers are still spending, despite the steady and upward rise in the price of gasoline.

Also giving investors something to cheer about was Citigroup’s earning of $ 1.11 per share, beating expectations of $ 1 per share. Banks are off to a solid start, following JP Morgan Chase’s and Wells Fargo’s reported earnings on Friday that also topped estimates.

Reporting this week are Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

Investors this week will also be closely watching Tuesday’s Spanish 10-yield bond auction.

U.S. markets are hoping to make up some lost ground coming off the worst week of the year. Last week, the Dow lost 1.6 percent, the S&P 500 gave back 2 percent and the NASDAQ dropped 2.3 percent.

In world markets, Asia ended lower and European stocks were higher in midday trading.

In currencies and commodities, the dollar gained against the euro and the British pound, but fell versus the Japanese yen.

Oil for May delivery rose 11 cents to $ 102.94 a barrel. Gold futures for April delivery lost $ 11.20 to $ 1,647.90 a troy ounce

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – U.S. stocks were weak on the open Thursday on European debt worries.

Just before 10 a.m. on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 25 points, the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index was lower by 2 points and the NASDAQ was off 3 points.

A government report showing that initial jobless claims for the week ended March 31 totaled 357,000, more than the expected 355,000, also didn’t help.

Weighing on stocks was a lukewarm Spanish debt auction on Wednesday, renewing worries about the struggling country’s ability to meet its 2012 budget deficit. The yield on 10-year Spanish bonds rose to 5.8 percent Thursday, the highest level in more than three months.

French 10-year bond yields climbed to 2.96 percent, following auctions for mid-to-long-term debt that drew decent demand. Concerns are once again surfacing about the eurozone’s sovereign debt crisis.

In world markets, European stocks were lower in afternoon trading, and Asia ended the day mixed.

In currencies and commodities, the dollar gained against the euro and the British pound, but fell versus the Japanese yen.

Oil for May delivery added 19 cents to $ 101.61 a barrel, and gold futures for April delivery gained $ 12.30 to $ 1,624.60 a troy ounce.

Markets are closed Friday in observance of the Good Friday holiday.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Stocks suffered a sharp sell-off Wednesday morning as investors grew increasingly anxious about what the markets might do without additional stimulus from the Federal Reserve.

Just after 10 a.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 147 points, the Standard & Poors 500 Index dropped 14 points and the NASDAQ fell 40 points.

The selling was broad-based across all sectors, with financials taking an especially strong hit.

Investors were reacting to Tuesday’s release of minutes from the central bank’s meeting last month, which made it clear that the Fed believes the economy is growing well enough on its own and doesn’t need Fed intervention as this time.

Some market participants had been hoping the Fed would move to another round of quantitative easing.

Also making investors jittery was ADP’s report that showed the private sector added jobs at a slower than expected pace in March.

In world markets, European stocks were lower despite the European Central Bank’s announcement Wednesday that it is holding its main interest rate steady at 1 percent. Tepid reaction to a bond offering in Spain also weighed on overseas investors.

Asia slumped 2.3 percent, and markets in Hong Kong and China were closed tor Tomb Sweeping holiday.

In currencies and commodities, the dollar gained against the euro and the British pound, but fell against the Japanese yen.

Oil slipped $ 1.05 to $ 102.69 a barrel. Gold was battered, dropping $ 46.40 to $ 1,625.60 a troy ounce.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – The rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage climbed above 4 percent for the first time since October, Freddie Mac reported Thursday.

In its weekly report, the mortgage giant noted the average rate on the 30-year fixed rate mortgage increased to 4.08 percent in the week ending March 22. That was up from 3.92 percent in the prior week. A year earlier, the rate rested at 4.81 percent.

The 15-year-fixed rate mortgage rose to 3.30 percent in the latest week. That was up from 3.16 percent in the previous week.

Economists say that mortgage rates are inching higher along with improved economic data, and are catching up with increases in U.S. Treasury bond yields.

The housing market has been showing mixed signs of recovery, and the unemployment situation appears to be improving.

However, higher rates slow mortgage activity.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Lehman Brothers Holding Inc. emerged from bankruptcy Tuesday by beginning to pay creditors as stipulated in a plan set up by the court on Dec. 6.

The biggest creditors with a combined $ 138 billion were Citigroup and Bank of Mellon Corp as indebted trustees (they sold the bonds). Japan’s Aozora Bank was owed $ 463 million in unsecured debt.

Actual payments will not start until April 17. Those creditors that cannot or will not wait can sell their claims to others before March 18.

Estimates suggest that Lehman bondholders will initially pocket some $ 10 billion, and $ 65 billion in all. That’s a far cry from the $ 639 billion in assets Lehman had on its books in September 2008 when it filed Chapter 11. Lehman then reported $ 613 in liabilities, with about $ 155 billion in bond debt.

Lehman Brothers holds the distinction as being the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history and the biggest Wall Street failure.

The legal costs of Lehman’s bankruptcy were approximately $ 1.6 billion as of Jan. 31.

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