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LONDON (AFP) – The European single currency steadied on Tuesday, but stock markets fell further, as euro finance ministers gathered in Brussels to address Ireland's debt crisis which threatens the eurozone.

In overnight trade, the euro sank as low as 1.3561 dollars -- the lowest level since September 30 -- before pulling back to 1.3582 dollars in morning London deals, unchanged from late in New York on Monday.

The London stock market was down 1.27 percent nearing Tuesday's half-way point, while Frankfurt's DAX 30 dropped 0.48 percent and in Paris the CAC 40 lost 1.28 percent. Dublin fell by 0.73 percent in value.

Investors are nervous about Ireland amid growing fears that the former Celtic Tiger nation could be bailed out, just six months after the EU-IMF rescue of Greece.

"The euro has stabilised ahead of the key eurozone finance ministers meeting in Brussels today," said Derek Halpenny, European head of global currency research at The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ in London.

"The stability of the euro reflects increased optimism that the meeting will end with the announcement of some form of bailout for Ireland that will result in the periphery debt markets stabilising."

Finance ministers begin talks at 1600 GMT to grapple with a spreading debt crisis that has already brought Greece to its knees, and now threatens Ireland and also Portugal.

Policymakers are seriously worried about the contagion effect of Ireland's debt crisis across the eurozone.

"Eurozone finance ministers are scheduled to meet today and Ireland is at the top of the agenda," said VTB Capital economist Neil MacKinnon.

"The risk of contagion to the other so-called PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain) economies is probably concentrating the minds of policymakers."

Speculation has reached fever pitch over a possible rescue for Ireland running up to 90 billion euros (123 billion dollars), after Greece was rescued in May to the tune of 110 billion euros.

"The problem remains the liquidity and solvency of the Irish banking system," added MacKinnon.

"Ireland?s banks have been significant borrowers from the European Central Bank and they face considerable losses arising from the collapse of the Irish housing market.

"Our view remains that an Irish bailout is necessary and however the eventual plan is resolved, there will be a recapitalisation of the Irish banks."

Ireland is meanwhile edging towards accepting an EU bailout of its banks worth billions of euros to avoid financial rescue of the entire nation, the Irish Independent newspaper said Tuesday.

"To fend off being forced into a bailout for the entire state, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan is poised to agree to a bank injection to stabilise the euro and calm markets," the newspaper said.

Citing an unnamed source, the paper reported that Prime Minister Brian Cowen's government will portray its acceptance of funds as an effort to stabilise the single currency.

Michael Ben-Gad, head of economics at London's City University, said the European Union was hoping that an Ireland bailout would avert a deeper crisis in the longer run.

"The EU is hoping to avoid a Greek-style crisis by forcing Ireland to accept a package now before they reach the point of no return when they cannot either finance their debt payments or even pay for their day-to-day operations."

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By DAVID K. RANDALL, AP Business Writer David K. Randall, Ap Business Writer – 46?mins?ago

NEW YORK – Stock futures pushed higher Thursday, a day after the Federal Reserve announced a $600 billion plan to stimulate the economy.

Key market indicators were up more than 0.5 percent ahead of the opening.

The Fed announced Wednesday afternoon that it would buy Treasury bonds in an effort to spur consumer spending and investments in stocks. The central bank was unusually detailed in its announcement, telling investors that it planned to spend $75 billion a month on bonds until at least the middle of next year.

The Dow Jones industrial average has risen about 12 percent since the Fed began hinting in late August that it planned to buy bonds. The extent of the central bank's move was in line with most market estimates.

The announcement is helping to boost share prices overseas as well. The Stoxx 50 index, which tracks blue chip companies in Europe, is up more than 1.1 percent.

Investors sent shares of BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining company, up 5.1 percent after the Canadian government rejected its $38.6 billion bid to buy Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan. Unilever PLC gained 5 percent in pre-market trading after it announced that its third quarter net profit rose 19 percent. Like other multinational corporations, the maker of household products noted that much of its revenues rose thanks to growth in emerging markets.

Financial shares in Europe rose ahead of meetings by the Bank of England and the European Central Bank.

Shares on the Shanghai Composite index, the most-followed measure of China's stock market, are up 1.8 percent.

The Fed's plan will increase the supply of dollars and most likely push the value of the currency down. The dollar is at its lowest level since December 2009 against a broad basket of currencies.

Finance ministers in emerging economies like China and Brazil have criticized the Fed's stimulus plan and said that the added supply of investment dollars could lead to asset bubbles in their countries.

Dow Jones industrial average futures were up 60, or 0.6 percent, to 11,237 before the opening bell. S&P 500 futures were up 7.1, or 0.6 percent, while Nasdaq 100 futures were up 12, or 0.5 percent, to 2,176. The Dow and the Nasdaq both closed Wednesday at yearly highs.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, was unchanged at 2.57 percent.

Investors will likely turn their attention to a full plate of economic and corporate earnings reports on Thursday.

The Labor Department will announce its weekly report on first-time unemployment benefit applications before the market opens. Last week, the report showed that unemployment claims dropped slightly.

Kraft Foods Inc., Starbucks Corp. and CBS Corp. will announce their third-quarter earnings reports Thursday as well.

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks were little changed on Friday as investors continued to assess prospects for monetary stimulus by the U.S. Federal Reserve and ahead of elections that could change the balance power in Washington.

Market action in the last several weeks has been dictated by prospects the Fed will announce another round of asset buying next Wednesday. Mid-term elections next Tuesday have also preoccupied investors, with polls indicating a Republican takeover of the House of Representatives.

Analysts said the government's gross domestic product report was positive, showing 2 percent annualized growth rate in the third quarter as forecast, but the data took a backseat to stimulus speculation.

"There's big news next week, and most of it is built into the market, some ideas about how many pro-business people will move to Washington and how proactive the Fed will be," said Richard Sichel, chief investment officer at Philadelphia Trust Co.

"In both cases, investors have been fairly optimistic for some months now about what we'll see. When we do get that next week, the market will probably get back to looking at earnings," Sichel said.

With 335 S&P 500 companies having reported so far, some 77 percent have beaten earnings estimates. That is just shy of the record beat rate of 79 percent in the third quarter of 2009, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Still, earnings have taken a back seat to macroeconomic news.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) dropped 2.73 points, or 0.02 percent, to 11,111.22. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) dropped 0.34 point, or 0.03 percent, to 1,183.44. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) gained 6.51 points, or 0.26 percent, to 2,513.88.

While the S&P 500 is flat so far this week, the index is up almost 4 percent for the month, and investors could take the opportunity to lock in profits during the session.

Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) rose 1.5 percent to $26.68 a day after it reported a profit that beat estimates on higher sales of its flagship software.

On the downside, Chevron Corp (CVX.N) posted a weaker-than-expected profit, and its shares fell 1.7 percent to $83.05.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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WASHINGTON - Consensus is built at the Federal Reserve of a new program for pumping the economy through the purchase of the Treasury, obligations.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues seem to be closing the idea of their meeting in September, according to minutes of unexpected deliberations were released the mardi.Les economists predict Fed officials approve program meeting November 2-3.

Fed policymakers also spoke at length meeting on 21 September on a strategy to increase spending by people suggest prices might increase in the near future, after expressing concerns that the economy was slower growth that they expect.

While the u.s. Federal Reserve officials did not see economy sliding toward a recession, they feared that it became vulnerable to the "potential adverse impact", according to the minutes .they have raised concerns that unemployment was 9.6% in the last months, would remain high.

Fed officials said they were willing to provide additional relief "before long," according to the minutes .the economists and investors, who took as a sign that they are ready to act.

"The Fed is close to the establishment of a second round" stimulus, Paul Ashworth, an economist at the economic capital, said the minutes showed.

Wall Street was waiting with impatience decision the Federal Reserve to buy debt, officially known as quantitative easing. The minutes of the US Federal Reserve has reported this move is close and all the major indexes.

Fed policy makers did not settle in big how debt purchase should be or how to structure the programme.Ces details are what they are fighting with as prepare them for the November meeting.

The Federal Reserve to purchase aims to lead the interest rates on mortgage loans, business debt and other loans.He hoped that this will stimulate us to boost spending, which could strengthen the economy and ultimately to chip away at stubbornly high unemployment rate.

Public comments by officials of the reserve US Federal since the meeting of 21 September suggests program will be smaller than the one he 1.7 billion dollars to the recession. In this program, the US Federal Reserve has purchased a mixture of mortgage-backed securities and debt.Effort was credited with forcing mortgage rates and support for the housing market is weakening.

Two Fed officials in recent observations suggested that new purchases should not exceed $ 500 billion.

The September meeting, some officials of the US Federal Reserve thought that the economic benefit of buying the debt could be "small".A smaller programme is not expected to lower rates as crisis-era program the Fed, say the économistes.En in addition, there is concern that even cheaper loans will fail to get people and businesses to the crossover of their spending.So far, they have not been sufficient confidence in the economy of their own financial perspective to do so.

Bernanke said last week that another series of purchase of securities would probably help the economy.

So far, five of the 11 reserve Federal members, including Bernanke, voters are bent towards additional assistance or are less open to it.Fed Vice President Janet Yellen, whose functions include the construction of support for the position of Bernanke is likely to vote with the Director of the reserve.Fed governors Kevin Warsh Elizabeth Duke, Daniel Tarullo, Sarah Bloom Raskin also are likely to return Bernanke.Thomas Hoenig, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, however, was the decision of the Federal Reserve, dissident year-round and is likely to oppose additional assistance.

Speaking Tuesday in Denver, Hoenig has said that he is not convinced that the debt more purchases "does not work in the real world."

William Dudley, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, has estimated that a $ 500 billion program would provide the same amount of stimuli as a reduction of half-point or three-quarters to Senior Federal Reserve interest rate.This rate is already close to zero and cannot be further cut.That is why the Fed is weighing buy more debt.

Another option for helping the economy also discussed extensively during the September meeting, according to the minutes lekeage discusses the Fed is trying to raise the expectations of the population where they believe that inflation is headed in the months to venir.Si Fed communicate that it will tolerate a higher than normal inflation, which might make companies feel more inclined to move their prix.Shoppers - thought prices could be increased still further on the road - would be more likely to make purchases more t?t.Qui would raise inflation running now at very low levels.

Such an approach would push "real" or corrected for inflation of low interest rates could encourage more dépenses.Nourris officials at the meeting noted that there are different ways September might attempt to influence the expectations of inflation .a way was to include information in the minutes of the meetings of the Fed in an attempt to shape the expectations about inflation.

It is a controversial idea that Bernanke called "inappropriate" in August, taking into account the current economic circumstances pays.Cependant, at the time he said such an approach "could make sense" If the country was mired in a situation of prolonged deflation that weakened the public trust.

According to the minutes of the US Federal Reserve officials "seen only in small dimensions of deflation."Deflation is generalized decline in prices, wages and stocks and house values.

Copyright 2010 the Associated rights Press.Tous réservés.Ce hardware cannot be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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