European shares retreat on corporate worries, growth outlook

LONDON (Reuters) - European shares edged down on Thursday as concerns grow over the outlook for growth and corporate earnings, while oil prices gained support after Islamist militants attacked an Algerian gas field.

Worries about the global economic outlook have revived since the World Bank cut its 2013 forecast for global growth to 2.4 percent from its previous estimate of 3 percent, citing the prospect of poor performance across the developed world.

A massive $14 billion writedown at global mining giant Rio Tinto amid fears weak growth in the fourth quarter of 2012 will result in poor corporate results has further undermined investor confidence.

"The market will remain predominantly in a consolidation mood following a cautious outlook on earnings. I think European companies will disappoint a bit," said Christian Stocker, equity strategist at UniCredit in Munich.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index <.fteu3> of top European shares slipped nearly 0.1 percent to 1,159.00 points in early trade. London's FTSE 100 <.ftse>, Paris's CAC-40 <.fchi> and Frankfurt's DAX <.gdaxi> were flat to 0.3 percent lower.

"There's been a mixed bag on the earnings front so far," said Darren Easton, director of trading at Logic Investments.

"In the short-term, we're in the bear camp," he added.

MSCI's broadest index of Asian shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> fell 0.2 percent, extending declines for a third consecutive session.

The falls were led by a slump in Chinese stocks as investors retreated ahead a slew of key economic data due on Friday including fourth-quarter GDP, December industrial output, retail sales and house prices.

Oil prices, which are under pressure from the prospects of weaker demand in 2013, gained support from concerns about supplies being affected by military activity in Algeria and Mali.

Islamist fighters seized dozens of Western and Algerian hostages in a dawn raid on a natural gas facility deep in the Sahara on Wednesday and demanded France halt a new offensive against rebels in neighboring Mali.

Brent added 2 cents to $109.70 a barrel, though U.S. oil slipped 10 cents to $94.14.

In the debt market, yields on safe-have German bonds were creeping lower as equity markets softened, but investors were reluctant to make big bets before a Spanish debt sale.

Spain plans to tap the market for up to 4.5 billion euros in short and long-term bonds and is expected to see good demand and sharply lower yields as the European Central Bank's promise to support the debt of struggling nations has encouraged investors.

The dollar and the euro were choppy, as both currencies pared back some of their recent big gains against the yen after a Japanese official this week expressed concerns about excessive yen weakness.

The yen is expected to remain on a weakening trend amid expectations for bolder BOJ monetary easing measures at its January 21-22 policy meeting as part of the new government's push to drive Japan out of years of deflation and economic slump.

The dollar rose 0.25 percent to 88.60 yen, off its peak since June 2010 of 89.67 touched on Monday, while the euro gained 0.4 percent to 117.95 yen, after surging to its highest since May 2011 of 120.13 yen on Monday.

"The BOJ will probably disappoint to some degree. They'll deliver what the market expects but no more than that," said Gareth Berry, G10 FX strategist for UBS in Singapore.

(Reporting by Richard Hubbard; Editing by Will Waterman)

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PTC Extension Not Enough to Save Some Wind Industry Jobs

According to the Institute for Energy Research , in spite of the New Year’s Day one-year extension granted to the Production Tax Credit for wind energy as part of the fiscal cliff bill, some employee layoffs and wind project cancellations continue. Here are the details.

* Regardless of the Production Tax Credit extension, the institute stated this week, wind power is reaching a saturation point for the next several years as some state renewable portfolio standards mandating specific levels of power to be generated by renewable technologies are reaching their mandates.

* According to the Institute for Energy Research, it is the renewable portfolio standards, unconnected from costs and markets, that has driven the wind capacity additions, not the tax credit.

* The institute points to the recent news that wind industry giant Vestas still plans to reduce its workforce this year by another 2,000 jobs, in spite of the renewal of the tax credit.

* However, Vestas stated that the late timing of the tax credit extension — not saturation of the market — is the cause of the continued plans to reduce its workforce. “Vestas adjusted the company’s workforce in 2012 based on the PTC not being extended,” the company, which currently employs a global workforce of 18,000, stated.

* Vestas added that while the production tax credit provides certainty for the wind industry, late timing of the extension will result in a significant reduction in 2013 installations due to the time it takes from when an order for a wind installation is placed to the project’s completion.

* According to the Pueblo Chieftain , workers at a wind tower factory in Colorado went on 24-hour work weeks for January due to a slowdown caused by Congress’ yearlong delay in extending the credit. The cut in worker hours was done at Colorado plants in lieu of further layoffs and will allow workers to get partial state unemployment benefits for up to 18 weeks.

* Seven hundred of the 1,800 workers at Vestas’ Colorado facilities have been laid off in the past year, the Chieftain reported.

* In addition, the Institute for Energy Research reported, Spanish company Iberdrola Renewables has confirmed that it will no longer be pursuing the development of a wind farm in Hammond, N.Y., and plans to cancel 100 wind projects in the United States.

* According to a Jan. 3 article in the National Journal, the one-year extension of the tax credit ensures that the industry will be back this year to try and get it extended for an even longer period of time. Meanwhile, others — including the utility companies who have invested in wind — are questioning the benefits of the tax credit.

* John O’Donnell, a lobbyist for Xcel Energy, stated that he doesn’t think extending the benefits of extending the tax credit goes beyond the wind developers to reach the customers paying electricity bills or the utilities buying wind from renewable energy generators.

* Xcel — who had the largest wind capacity of any utility in 2011 — is now considering whether or not to continue buying wind or being a member of the American Wind Energy Association, the National Journal reported.

* Exelon, the country’s biggest nuclear generator and 11th-ranked utility in terms of wind generation, is also questioning the production tax credit, stating that the credit distorts electricity market prices and hurts the company’s bottom line, according to the National Journal. The company is vowing to work with legislators in the coming months to make them aware of the “unintended negative consequences” that will result from the continuation of the Production Tax Credit.

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World shares slip as growth concerns re-emerge

LONDON (Reuters) - World shares slipped while safe-haven bonds and gold firmed on Wednesday as poor economic data from Europe rekindled investors' caution about the health of the global economy.

The euro was under pressure following weak German GDP figures on Tuesday and a warning from the chairman of the euro zone finance ministers' group, Jean-Claude Juncker, that the common currency was now "dangerously high".

Germany's economy shrank at the fastest pace in almost three years in the final part of 2012, and data on Wednesday showed demand for new cars in Europe fell in December to the lowest level since 1995.

"Following the German growth numbers yesterday there is simply a realization the recession in the euro zone in the fourth quarter will be much bigger than the previous consensus and that is pushing up German (bond) yields and putting downward pressure on equities," said Daiwa Securities economist Tobias Blattner.

The MSCI world equity index <.miwd00000pus> was down 0.3 percent at around 349 points, while Europe's FTSE Eurofirst 300 index <.fteu3> of top shares dipped roughly 0.2 percent in choppy early trade to 1,158.52 points.

London's FTSE 100 <.ftse>, Paris's CAC-40 <.fchi> and Frankfurt's DAX <.gdaxi> were flat to 0.3 percent lower.

Following the data and Juncker's comments, the euro was roughly 0.2 percent lower against the dollar at $1.3283 by 0815 GMT down 1 percent against the yen at 116.95 yen.

The yen - which had been sharply sliding against the dollar in recent weeks on expectations of aggressive Japanese policy easing under new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe - rose for a second day after a Japanese cabinet minister warned of the possible harm of excessive yen weakness.

Bond markets in Europe were largely quiet before Germany's first sale of the year of benchmark 10-year bonds.

Bund yields, which have risen to attractive levels compared with recent months, are expected to draw in buyers. Yields rose as much as 23 basis points during early January before retracing slightly as buyers re-emerged.

Wall Street posted modest gains on Tuesday after encouraging retail sales data although futures prices point to it giving back some of those gains on Wednesday.

Asian markets largely struggled, with Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock average <.n225> shedding 2.6 percent in its largest daily fall in eight months.

Assets traditionally viewed as offering protection against risk have been boosted this week as U.S. political wrangling has begun again over raising its self-imposed debt limit.

Spot gold was up 0.2 percent to $1,681.55 an ounce, underpinned by the jitters, and the benchmark gold futures contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange hit a record high for a third consecutive session.

U.S. crude was up 0.2 percent to $93.44 a barrel while Brent was up 0.3 percent to $110.61.

(editing by David Stamp)

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Astronomers discover largest known structure in the universe

(Reuters) – Astronomers have discovered the largest known structure in the universe – a group of quasars so large it would take 4 billion years to cross it while traveling at speed of light.

The immense scale also challenges Albert Einstein’s Cosmological Principle, the assumption that the universe looks the same from every point of view, researchers said.

The findings by academics from Britain’s University of Central Lancashire were published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and reported on the society’s website on Friday.

Quasars are believed to be the brightest objects in the universe, with light emanating from the nuclei of galaxies from the early days of the universe and visible billions of light-years away.

“Since 1982 it has been known that quasars tend to group together in clumps or ‘structures’ of surprisingly large sizes, forming large quasar groups or LQGs,” the society said.

This newly discovered large quasar group has a dimension of 500 megaparsecs, each megaparsec measuring 3.3 million light-years.

Because the LQG is elongated, its longest dimension is 1,200 megaparsecs, or 4 billion light-years, the society said.

That size is 1,600 times larger than the distance from Earth’s Milky Way to the nearest galaxy, the Andromeda.

“While it is difficult to fathom the scale of this LQG, we can say quite definitely it is the largest structure ever seen in the entire universe,” Roger Clowes, leader of the research team, said in a statement. “This is hugely exciting – not least because it runs counter to our current understanding of the scale of the universe.”

Clowes said the team would continue to investigate the phenomenon with particular interest in the challenge to the Cosmological Principle, which has been widely accepted since Einstein, whose work still forms the basis for much of modern cosmology.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Gary Hill)

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Apple drags on S&P, Nasdaq; Dell jumps after report

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended lower on Monday as worries over demand for Apple products drove down its shares and investors braced for earnings disappointments.

Running counter to that was Dell Inc's stock which jumped 13 percent to about a five-month high at $12.29 after Bloomberg reported the No. 3 personal computer maker is in talks with private equity firms to go private. Dell's gains offset some tech-sector weakness.

Tech heavyweight Apple lost 3.6 percent to $501.75 and was the biggest weight on both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 <.ndx> indexes after reports the company has cut orders for LCD screens and other parts for the iPhone 5 this quarter due to weak demand. The stock hit a session low of $498.51, the first dip below $500 since February 16.

"With Apple, it seems as if the sentiment has shifted from this being the one stock that everybody wanted to own to people beginning to look at it as a company (whose) business is slowing down somewhat," said Eric Kuby, chief investment officer of North Star Investment Management Corp in Chicago.

Adding to investor unease, fourth-quarter earnings kick into high gear this week. Analyst estimates for the quarter have fallen sharply since October. S&P 500 earnings growth is now seen up just 1.9 percent from a year ago, Thomson Reuters data showed.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 18.89 points, or 0.14 percent, at 13,507.32. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was down 1.37 points, or 0.09 percent, at 1,470.68. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was down 8.13 points, or 0.26 percent, at 3,117.50.

Apple suppliers also lost ground, with Cirrus Logic off 9.4 percent at $28.62 and Qualcomm down 1 percent at $64.24.

The Dow fared better than the other two indexes, helped in part by Hewlett-Packard shares, which rose 4.9 percent to $16.95. The stock, up early in the session after JPMorgan upgraded its rating on the shares and raised its price target to $21 from $15, added to gains following the Dell report.

Tech has "become the arena for private equity or other capital-restructuring type of maneuvers because of the way their valuations and their balance sheets are," Kuby said.

Appliance and electronics retailer Hhgregg Inc slumped 5.7 percent to $7.44 after the company cut its same-store sales forecast for the full year.

Earnings reports are due this week from Goldman Sachs , Bank of America , Intel and General Electric , among other companies. Third-quarter reports ended with a gain of just 0.1 percent, the worst for an S&P 500 profit period in three years, according to Thomson Reuters data.

President Barack Obama warned Congress at a news conference on Monday that a refusal to raise the U.S. debt ceiling next month could mean a government shutdown and trigger economic chaos.

S&P futures had little reaction to comments after the bell by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who urged lawmakers to lift the country's borrowing limit to avoid a debt default.

Volume was roughly 5.6 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT, compared with the 2012 average daily closing volume of about 6.45 billion.

Decliners were about even with advancers on the NYSE while decliners outpaced advancers on the Nasdaq by about 12 to 11.

(Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Kenneth Barry, Nick Zieminski and Andrew Hay)

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Ohio gas prices tick up amid recovery hopes

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio gas prices are higher to start the new work week.

The average price for a gallon of regular gas in Ohio was $ 3.24 in Monday’s survey from auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. That’s 5 cents higher than a week ago.

Ohio’s prices are still below the national average of $ 3.30, which is about the same as last week.

The lowest average price in Ohio Monday was $ 3.16 in the Toledo area.

Experts say China and the U.S. appear to be on a solid track of economic recovery, which supports oil prices at higher levels. Prices are also rising because of increased energy consumption in China, which is enduring its coldest winter in nearly three decades.

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Yen under pressure, Asian stocks drift up

LONDON (Reuters) - The euro hit an 11-month high against the dollar and European shares rose on Monday as the region's improving economic growth outlook and the declining prospects of further monetary easing bolstered demand.

The common currency peaked at $1.3404, its highest level since February 2012, producing a hefty gain of 2.5 percent since European Central Bank President Mario Draghi gave a more optimistic outlook for the economic recovery late last week.

Europe's FTSE Eurofirst 300 index, which has been rallying all year, added 0.2 percent in early trade while London's FTSE 100 <.ftse>, Frankfurt's DAX <.gdaxi> and Paris's CAC-40 <.fchi> all traded around 0.1-0.3 percent higher.

The moves came before release of euro zone industrial output data for November which is expected to show a rise of 0.1 percent month-on-month after a 1.4 percent fall in October, adding to signs of an improvement in activity over recent months.

"The mood in the euro zone has improved. And though things have not moved at the same pace in all countries, monetary and financial conditions are less tight, even in Spain," analysts at BNP Paribas said in a note.

Signs of a growth pickup in recent data from the United States and China, along with the easier monetary polices of major global central banks, have underpinned a broad rally in equity markets worldwide. The MSCI world equity index <.miwd00000pus> was trading near 18 month highs on Monday, although little changed on the day.

Chicago Federal Reserve chief Charles Evans added to the better sentiment. Evans, who is a voting member of the Fed's policymaking committee this year, said the U.S. economy is expected to grow 2.5 percent in 2013 and 3.5 percent in 2014.

Analysts expect further data this week to support demand for riskier assets, with U.S. and Chinese figures likely to show further momentum in the world's two biggest economies.

YEN SINKS

However, the Japanese yen bucked the stronger trend among the world's major currencies against the dollar when it touched a fresh a 2-1/2-year low of 89.67

The falls followed comments from new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday calling on the Bank of Japan (BOJ) to set a 2 percent inflation target and pursue bolder monetary easing to end nearly two decades of deflation.

Tokyo markets were closed on Monday for a holiday but MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> rose a modest 0.3 percent on the statement, remaining near a 17-month peak set on Friday.

Commodity prices recovered after last week's decline. Brent crude gained 44 cents to $111.08 a barrel as fears of supply disruption in the Middle East resurfaced, while U.S. crude rose 67 cents to $94.23 a barrel.

Copper edged up 0.4 percent to $8,077 a tonne and gold was up 0.3 percent at $1,667.45 an ounce.

(Reporting by Richard Hubbard; editing by David Stamp)

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NH case against 2 big oil companies gets underway

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The state of New Hampshire is launching its case against two major oil companies in what is expected to be the longest and most complex trial in state history.

The state’s lawyers say ExxonMobil and Citgo should pay more than $ 700 million in damages to monitor and clean up groundwater contamination caused by the gas additive MTBE — methyl tertiary butyl ether — now banned in New Hampshire.

Lawyers for the oil companies say they have cleaned up their own sites and that contamination elsewhere was caused by third parties not named in the suit.

The lawsuit — filed in 2003 — is the only one brought by a state to reach trial on the issue of MTBE groundwater contamination. Most of the other MTBE cases nationwide were brought by municipalities, water districts or individual well owners, and all but one was settled or dismissed.

The jury trial begins Monday and is expected to last four months. It is being held in a federal courtroom on loan to the state so as not to monopolize one of three courtrooms at Merrimack Superior Court.

More than 50,000 exhibits have been marked and the witness list numbers 230.

It was clear from a pretrial conference Friday that jurors will be confronted with an alphabet soup of acronyms for various funds and agencies, will have to grapple with complex statistical analyses and will hear contradictory testimony by expert witnesses.

MTBE had been used in gasoline since the 1970s to increase octane and reduce smog-causing emissions. While it was credited with cutting air pollution, it was found in the late 1990s to contaminate drinking water when gasoline is spilled or leaks into surface or groundwater. New Hampshire banned its use in 2007.

Roughly 60 percent of New Hampshire’s population gets its drinking water from wells, which drives up the estimated cost to test and treat contaminated water sources.

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Wall Street Week Ahead: Attention turns to financial earnings

NEW YORK (Reuters) - After over a month of watching Capitol Hill and Pennsylvania Avenue, Wall Street can get back to what it knows best: Wall Street.

The first full week of earnings season is dominated by the financial sector - big investment banks and commercial banks - just as retail investors, free from the "fiscal cliff" worries, have started to get back into the markets.

Equities have risen in the new year, rallying after the initial resolution of the fiscal cliff in Washington on January 2. The S&P 500 on Friday closed its second straight week of gains, leaving it just fractionally off a five-year closing high hit on Thursday.

An array of financial companies - including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase - will report on Wednesday. Bank of America and Citigroup will join on Thursday.

"The banks have a read on the economy, on the health of consumers, on the health of demand," said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey.

"What we're looking for is demand. Demand from small business owners, from consumers."

EARNINGS AND ECONOMIC EXPECTATIONS

Investors were greeted with a slightly better-than-anticipated first week of earnings, but expectations were low and just a few companies reported results.

Fourth quarter earnings and revenues for S&P 500 companies are both expected to have grown by 1.9 percent in the past quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Few large corporations have reported, with Wells Fargo the first bank out of the gate on Friday, posting a record profit. The bank, however, made fewer mortgage loans than in the third quarter and its shares were down 0.8 percent for the day.

The KBW bank index <.bkx>, a gauge of U.S. bank stocks, is up about 30 percent from a low hit in June, rising in six of the last eight months, including January.

Investors will continue to watch earnings on Friday, as General Electric will round out the week after Intel's report on Thursday.

HOUSING, INDUSTRIAL DATA ON TAP

Next week will also feature the release of a wide range of economic data.

Tuesday will see the release of retail sales numbers and the Empire State manufacturing index, followed by CPI data on Wednesday.

Investors and analysts will also focus on the housing starts numbers and the Philadelphia Federal Reserve factory activity index on Thursday. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment numbers are due on Friday.

Jim Paulsen, chief investment officer at Wells Capital Management in Minneapolis, said he expected to see housing numbers continue to climb.

"They won't be that surprising if they're good, they'll be rather eye-catching if they're not good," he said. "The underlying drive of the markets, I think, is economic data. That's been the catalyst."

POLITICAL ANXIETY

Worries about the protracted fiscal cliff negotiations drove the markets in the weeks before the ultimate January 2 resolution, but fear of the debt ceiling fight has yet to command investors' attention to the same extent.

The agreement was likely part of the reason for a rebound in flows to stocks. U.S.-based stock mutual funds gained $7.53 billion after the cliff resolution in the week ending January 9, the most in a week since May 2001, according to Thomson Reuters' Lipper.

Markets are unlikely to move on debt ceiling news unless prominent lawmakers signal that they are taking a surprising position in the debate.

The deal in Washington to avert the cliff set up another debt battle, which will play out in coming months alongside spending debates. But this alarm has been sounded before.

"The market will turn the corner on it when the debate heats up," Prudential Financial's Krosby said.

The CBOE Volatility index <.vix> a gauge of traders' anxiety, is off more than 25 percent so far this month and it recently hit its lowest since June 2007, before the recession began.

"The market doesn't react to the same news twice. It will have to be more brutal than the fiscal cliff," Krosby said. "The market has been conditioned that, at the end, they come up with an agreement."

(Reporting by Gabriel Debenedetti; editing by Rodrigo Campos)

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Wall Street Week Ahead: Attention turns to financial earnings

NEW YORK (Reuters) - After over a month of watching Capitol Hill and Pennsylvania Avenue, Wall Street can get back to what it knows best: Wall Street.

The first full week of earnings season is dominated by the financial sector - big investment banks and commercial banks - just as retail investors, free from the "fiscal cliff" worries, have started to get back into the markets.

Equities have risen in the new year, rallying after the initial resolution of the fiscal cliff in Washington on January 2. The S&P 500 on Friday closed its second straight week of gains, leaving it just fractionally off a five-year closing high hit on Thursday.

An array of financial companies - including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase - will report on Wednesday. Bank of America and Citigroup will join on Thursday.

"The banks have a read on the economy, on the health of consumers, on the health of demand," said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey.

"What we're looking for is demand. Demand from small business owners, from consumers."

EARNINGS AND ECONOMIC EXPECTATIONS

Investors were greeted with a slightly better-than-anticipated first week of earnings, but expectations were low and just a few companies reported results.

Fourth quarter earnings and revenues for S&P 500 companies are both expected to have grown by 1.9 percent in the past quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Few large corporations have reported, with Wells Fargo the first bank out of the gate on Friday, posting a record profit. The bank, however, made fewer mortgage loans than in the third quarter and its shares were down 0.8 percent for the day.

The KBW bank index <.bkx>, a gauge of U.S. bank stocks, is up about 30 percent from a low hit in June, rising in six of the last eight months, including January.

Investors will continue to watch earnings on Friday, as General Electric will round out the week after Intel's report on Thursday.

HOUSING, INDUSTRIAL DATA ON TAP

Next week will also feature the release of a wide range of economic data.

Tuesday will see the release of retail sales numbers and the Empire State manufacturing index, followed by CPI data on Wednesday.

Investors and analysts will also focus on the housing starts numbers and the Philadelphia Federal Reserve factory activity index on Thursday. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment numbers are due on Friday.

Jim Paulsen, chief investment officer at Wells Capital Management in Minneapolis, said he expected to see housing numbers continue to climb.

"They won't be that surprising if they're good, they'll be rather eye-catching if they're not good," he said. "The underlying drive of the markets, I think, is economic data. That's been the catalyst."

POLITICAL ANXIETY

Worries about the protracted fiscal cliff negotiations drove the markets in the weeks before the ultimate January 2 resolution, but fear of the debt ceiling fight has yet to command investors' attention to the same extent.

The agreement was likely part of the reason for a rebound in flows to stocks. U.S.-based stock mutual funds gained $7.53 billion after the cliff resolution in the week ending January 9, the most in a week since May 2001, according to Thomson Reuters' Lipper.

Markets are unlikely to move on debt ceiling news unless prominent lawmakers signal that they are taking a surprising position in the debate.

The deal in Washington to avert the cliff set up another debt battle, which will play out in coming months alongside spending debates. But this alarm has been sounded before.

"The market will turn the corner on it when the debate heats up," Prudential Financial's Krosby said.

The CBOE Volatility index <.vix> a gauge of traders' anxiety, is off more than 25 percent so far this month and it recently hit its lowest since June 2007, before the recession began.

"The market doesn't react to the same news twice. It will have to be more brutal than the fiscal cliff," Krosby said. "The market has been conditioned that, at the end, they come up with an agreement."

(Reporting by Gabriel Debenedetti; editing by Rodrigo Campos)

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California cold snap threatens citrus crop, strands motorists

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – An Arctic air mass sent temperatures plunging across California, forcing the 17-hour closure of a key interstate highway through the mountains north of Los Angeles and threatening citrus crops in the state’s vast central valleys, authorities said on Friday.

Temperatures throughout the state fell by as much as 20 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius) below normal, allowing snow to accumulate at elevations as low as 1,500 feet, the National Weather Service reported.

Although no further snow was expected to fall over the weekend, temperatures were expected to continue to drop on Saturday before gradually warming into next week, the weather service said.

About 4 inches of snow fell on Thursday on a winding stretch of the Interstate 5 known as the Grapevine, which passes through mountains between Los Angeles and Bakersfield, prompting authorities to shut down the north-south artery for 17 hours beginning Thursday afternoon.

Stranded motorists packed motels on either side of the Grapevine overnight. California Highway Patrol officers reopened the roadway at about 9 a.m. local time on Friday and began escorting cars along the treacherous route, CHP Officer Mike Harris said.

Precise weather conditions along the Grapevine during the freeze were not recorded, but neighboring areas posted temperatures in the mid-20s Fahrenheit, said Stuart Seto, a forecaster for the National Weather Service.

In the San Joaquin Valley, a major agricultural area, low temperatures in the teens threatened to kill citrus crops, which are in danger of perishing whenever the mercury falls below 28 degrees, said meteorologist Jeff Barlow said.

The Weather Service alerted farmers to the danger so they could take precautions, but there may still be a heavy loss.

“They won’t be able to save all of the crops,” Barlow said. “This is going to be a pretty significant freeze event for the central California citrus crops.”

In normally temperate San Diego, temperatures were expected to reach 39 degrees on Friday night, closer to the record low of 34 degrees set in 1888 than the normal 59 degrees, said Robert Balfour, a National Weather Service forecaster.

“The rest of the country is probably laughing at us, saying, ‘You call that cold?’” Balfour said.

(Reporting and writing by Brandon Lowrey; Editing by Steve Gorman and Marguerita Choy)

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Asian shares, Brent retreat after China CPI; yen slides

LONDON (Reuters) - European shares consolidated close to two year highs on Friday after Europe's Central Bank expressed cautious optimism on the euro zone's prospects.

Strong Chinese trade data on Thursday also helped lift economists' expectations of a steady global recovery this year, although a pick-up in Chinese inflation on Friday prompted profit-taking on Asia shares outside Japan and dampened oil.

The FTSEurofirst 300 <.fteu3> of top European shares opened in positive territory but had returned to a near-unchanged 1164.42 by 0850 GMT, with London's FTSE 100 <.ftse>, Paris's CAC-40 <.fchi> and Frankfurt's DAX <.gdaxi> all broadly steady. <.l><.eu><.n/>

It pushed the MSCI index of world shares <.miwd00000pus> to 350.08 points, a new eight-month high.

"People are starting to come back to the stock market because they don't have any other option," said Edward Page Croft, managing director at Stockopedia.

"Equities are very overdue a rest but that shouldn't make people through in the towel in my opinion (as) they will continue to be supported by central banks' very accommodative policies."

The major news from the ECB's meeting on Thursday was that none of the bank's policymakers had pushed to cut rates. Last month some had, and the change saw markets largely price out any reduction in rates in the coming months.

It triggered a jump in the euro and the rally resumed as European trading gathered pace, pushing the single currency above $1.3270 and to an 18-month high against the yen and a four-month high versus the Swiss franc.

The dollar, meanwhile, jumped to 89.35 yen, its highest since June 2010, on strengthening speculation new Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will exert strong pressure on the Bank of Japan to pursue aggressive easing steps.

Japan's cabinet approved on Friday an economic stimulus package in the biggest spending boost since the financial crisis. Abe also said in an interview with the Nikkei newspaper the BOJ should consider maximizing employment as a monetary policy goal to help boost the economy.

In the bond market, German Bund futures extended the previous day's losses after the ECB cooled expectations of a near-term rate cut.

Expectations of a strong Italian bond auction later in the day, after Spain made a successful start to its 2013 fund raising program on Thursday, also eroded demand for low-risk Bunds.

Oil prices reacted to the faster-than-expected Chinese inflation data, with Brent crude futures falling back towards $111 a barrel.

(Additional reporting by Francesco Canepa; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

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Survey Shows Different Results on Energy vs. Environment Questions

The Civil Society Institute (CSI) and the Environmental Working Group (EWG) announced the results of a survey this week that they say shows that Americans are not opposed to more domestic energy production, but that they do not want clean water, energy efficiency and expanded wind and solar power to be sacrificed in the process. The results contrast somewhat with other surveys that have been taken on the matter. Here are the details.

* According to the CSI/EWG survey, of the 809 respondents, 94 percent — including 92 percent of Republicans and 98 percent of Democrats — want political leadership on balancing more energy production with protecting the environment.

* Most Americans feel it is important for Congress to demonstrate leadership on a national agenda for clean energy and environmental protections and that national water resources should be an important consideration with U.S. energy planning and decision making.

* The groups — both of which support the clean energy industry — report that 86 percent of the respondents to their survey favored a shift from coal and nuclear energy to wind and solar. Additionally, the groups report, the majority of the respondents, regardless of political party, are opposed to fracking until more research is done and want more studies done on the health and environmental consequences of the chemicals used in fracking.

* The groups reported that three-quarters of their respondents have heard of fracking, with about half saying that they are very or somewhat familiar with it.

* According to a nearly one-year-old survey done by Rasmussen , in the wake of President Barack Obama’s decision last week to delay the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to Texas for environmental reasons, 59 percent of likely U.S. voters said that — generally speaking — job creation was more important than environmental protection. Twenty-nine percent said protecting the environment was more important.

* In March, Gallup found that 47 percent of respondents to a poll it conducted felt like it was more important for America to emphasize energy production, while 44 percent stated that environmental protection deserved emphasis.

* The importance to the two issues was skewed by political party, Gallup showed, with more Republicans in favor of energy production and more Democrats in favor of environmental protection. Independents were split on the matter, with 49 percent in favor of an increased emphasis on environmental protection, and 41 percent in favor of more importance placed on energy production.

* A March survey from Rasmussen showed that 57 percent of respondents favored the used of fracking in order to find more U.S. oil and gas, while only 22 percent of the participants said they were opposed to the process.

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Wall Street rises after Alcoa reports earnings

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Wednesday, rebounding from two days of losses, as investors turned their focus to the first prominent results of the earnings season.

Stocks had retreated at the start of the week from the S&P 500's highest point in five years, hit last Friday, on worries about possible earnings weakness.

Shares of Alcoa Inc were down 0.5 percent to $9.08 after early gains, following the company's earnings release after the bell on Tuesday. The largest U.S. aluminum producer said it expects global demand for aluminum to grow in 2013.

Herbalife Ltd stock rose 4.2 percent to $39.95 in its most active day of trading in the company's history after hedge fund manager Dan Loeb took a large stake in the nutritional supplements seller. Prominent short-seller Bill Ackman had previously accused the company of being a "pyramid scheme," which Herbalife has denied.

Traders have been cautious as the current quarter shaped up like the previous one, with companies recently lowering expectations, said James Dailey, portfolio manager of Team Asset Strategy Fund in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Lower expectations leave room for companies to surprise investors even if their results are not particularly strong.

"The big question and focus is on revenue, and Alcoa had better-than-expected revenue," which calmed the market a little, Dailey said.

Overall, corporate profits were expected to beat the previous quarter's meager 0.1 percent rise. Both earnings and revenues in the fourth quarter are expected to have grown by 1.9 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> gained 61.66 points, or 0.46 percent, to 13,390.51. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> rose 3.87 points, or 0.27 percent, to 1,461.02. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> gained 14.00 points, or 0.45 percent, to 3,105.81.

Facebook Inc shares rose above $30 for the first time since July 2012, trading up 5.3 percent at $30.59. Facebook, which has been tight-lipped about its plans after its botched IPO in May, invited the media to its headquarters next week.

Clearwire Corp shares jumped 7.2 percent to $3.13 after Dish Network bid $2.28 billion for the company, beating out a previous Sprint offer and setting the stage for a takeover battle for the wireless service provider that owns crucial mobile spectrum.

Apollo Group Inc slid after heavier early losses, a day after it reported lower student sign-ups for the third straight quarter and cut its operating profit outlook for 2013. Apollo's shares were last off 7.8 percent at $19.32.

Volume was below the 2012 average of 6.42 billion shares traded per day, as 6.10 billion were traded on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE MKT and Nasdaq.

Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 2,014 to 963, while on the Nasdaq advancers beat decliners 1,603 to 859.

(Reporting by Gabriel Debenedetti; additional reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

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Giant squid filmed in ocean depths for 1st time

TOKYO (AP) — After a hundred dives deep into the Pacific, scientists and broadcasters say they have captured video images of a giant squid in its natural habitat deep in the ocean for the first time.

The three-meter (nine-foot) invertebrate was filmed from a manned submersible during one of 100 dives in the Pacific last summer in a joint expedition by Japanese public broadcaster NHK, Discovery Channel and Japan’s National Museum of Nature and Science.

NHK released photographs of the giant squid this week ahead of Sunday’s show about the encounter. The Discovery Channel will air its program on Jan. 27.

The squid, which was inexplicably missing its two longest tentacles, was spotted in waters east of Chichi Island about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) south of Tokyo, NHK said. The crew followed it to a depth of 900 meters (2,950 feet).

Little is known about the creature because its harsh environment makes it difficult for scientists to conduct research. Specimens have washed ashore on beaches but never before have been filmed in their normal habitat deep in the ocean, researchers say.

Japanese zoologist Tsunemi Kubodera, who was on board the submersible at the time of the encounter, was able to lure the giant squid with a one-meter (three-foot) -long diamond squid.

All the lights from the submersible were turned off while they waited. At a depth of 640 meters (2,100 feet), the giant squid appeared and wrapped its arms around the bait, eating it for over 20 minutes before letting go.

“What we were able to gain from this experience was the moment of the giant squid attacking its prey — we were able record that,” said Kubodera, who has been researching the giant squid since 2002.

Other scientists involved in the expedition this summer, which logged 400 hours of dives, were American oceanographer and marine biologists Edith Widder and Steve O’Shea from New Zealand.

NHK said a high-definition camera was developed for the project that could operate deep in the ocean and used a special wavelength of light invisible to the giant squid’s sensitive eyes.

Kubodera said scientific research, technology and the right lure all came together to make the encounter possible, and that this case will shed more light on deep-sea creatures going forward.

After more than a decade of going out to sea in search of the giant squid, he relished the moment he came face-to-face with it.

“It appeared only once, out of 100 dives. So perhaps, after over 10 years of some kind of relationship I’ve built with the giant squids, I feel, perhaps, it was the squid that came to see me.”

___

Associated Press writer Emily Wang contributed to this report.

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Shares buoyed by Alcoa earnings, dollar gains on yen

LONDON (Reuters) - European shares rose slightly on Wednesday, ending two days of losses after aluminum giant Alcoa opened the U.S. earnings season with an optimistic outlook for world demand.

But with a light data day in prospect for Europe, featuring mainly German and Greek industrial output figures, and with European and UK central banks due to meet on Thursday, market movements were expected to be limited.

Shares in Alcoa, the largest aluminum producer in the United States, rose 1.3 percent in after-hours trade after it reported a fourth-quarter profit in line with Wall Street expectations and revenues which beat forecasts.

"Alcoa's results are generally considered a bellwether for the global economy and the fact that the aluminum giant forecasts higher demand in 2013 appeased investors," Stan Shamu, a market strategist at IG, wrote in a trading note.

The results lifted Asia stock markets and saw Europe's FTSE Eurofirst 300 index <.fteu3> gain around 0.4 percent in early trade. London's FTSE 100 <.ftse>, Paris's CAC-40 <.fchi> and Frankfurt's DAX <.gdaxi> were up to 0.6 percent higher.

U.S. stock futures suggested a firmer Wall Street start with a 0.15 percent gain. <.l><.eu><.n/>

Corporate profits are expected to be higher than the third quarter's lackluster results, but analysts' estimates are down sharply from where they were in October.

"Expectations are quite low going into the earnings season as we saw a lot of downward guidance in the past few months. There is potential for an upside surprise to come through," Robert Parkes, equity strategist at HSBC Securities, said.

In European fixed income markets German Bund prices dipped slightly as investors prepared for the government's auction of 5 billion euros worth of new five year bonds following successful debt sales in Austria, the Netherlands and Ireland on Tuesday.

The dollar meanwhile was stronger against the Japanese yen on expectations of a much bolder monetary easing from the Bank of Japan at its next meeting later this month.

The U.S. currency was up 0.7 percent at 87.65 yen, having hit an intraday low near 86.83 yen in Tokyo, its lowest in nearly a week and a loss of about 1.9 percent from last Friday's peak of 88.48 yen, its highest since July 2010.

The euro held steady against the dollar at $1.3080,

Brent crude oil was also steady below $112 per barrel as the market awaited the latest trade data from China, the world's biggest energy consumer, due on Thursday.

"What we're seeing in the oil markets is the cautious sentiment playing up ahead of some key economic events this week," said Ker Chung Yang, senior investment analyst at Phillips Futures in Singapore.

However, iron ore jumped to its highest since October 2011, stretching a rally that has lifted prices by more than a third since December as China replenished stockpile's and supply in the spot market remained limited.

(Additional reporting by Atul Prakash; editing by Anna Willard)

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Mysteriously Bright Black Holes Revealed by NASA Telescope

LONG BEACH, CALIF. – A NASA space telescope snapped a new view of two oddball black holes shining ultra-bright in X-ray light in a distant spiral galaxy.

NASA’s NuSTAR X-ray observatory spotted the bright black holes while observing the galaxy Caldwell 5, which is located 7 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Camelopardalis (the Giraffe).

The black holes, which appear in magenta superimposed on a visible-light view of the galaxy in NuSTAR’s view, present a cosmic mystery: Their X-ray emissions shine as bright as supermassive black holes, yet haven’t sunk to the galaxy’s core, as such monster black holes usually do. Scientists have dubbed such objects ultra-luminous X-ray sources, or ULXs.

The Milky Way galaxy is filled with so-called stellar black holes created by the collapse of individual giant stars, with masses of up to 12 times that of the sun. Yet those black holes don’t emit the intense levels energy to form such blazingly bright black holes as those seen by NuSTAR.

Supermassive black holes, by comparison, contain millions to billions of times the mass of the sun, usually are found at the center of a galaxy.

One possibility is that the black holes seen by NuSTAR are actually of an intermediate size, said NuSTAR principal investigator Fiona Harrison, an astrophysicist at the California Institute of Technology. But intermediate-sized black holes are thought to be much rarer than their bigger and smaller cousins.

“High-energy X-rays hold a key to unlocking the mystery surrounding these objects,” Harrison said in a statement. “Whether they are massive black holes, or there is new physics in how they feed, the answer is going to be fascinating.”

NASA’s NuSTAR telescope (the name is short for Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array) launched into space in June 2012. It focuses its observations on high-energy light wavelengths between 6keV and 79 keV in order to take a census of black holes and understand how elements are formed.

The two black holes were first spotted by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, but past images of the objects were blurry. The view from NuSTAR is much more refined, offering a clearer picture of their location in the galaxy, researchers said.

Follow Space.com on Twitter @SPACEdotcom. We’re also on Facebook & Google+.

Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Wall Street edges off five-year high, awaits earnings

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks lost ground on Monday, as investors drew back from recent gains that lifted the S&P 500 to a five-year high, in anticipation of sluggish growth in corporate profits.

Shares of financial companies dipped after a group of major U.S. banks agreed to pay a total of $8.5 billion to end a government inquiry into faulty mortgage foreclosures. The KBW bank index <.bkx>, a gauge of U.S. bank stocks, was down 0.3 percent.

Other sectors were hit as well, most notably energy and utilities. The S&P 500 energy sector index <.gspe> fell 0.8 percent and the utilities sector <.gspu> was off 1.1 percent.

The day's decline came a session after the S&P 500 finished at a five-year high, boosted by a budget deal and strong economic data. The S&P 500 rose 4.6 percent last week, the best weekly gain in more than a year.

"It's a little bit of taking some risk off the table ahead of profit season, you're not going to see anything all that great" on earnings, said Larry Peruzzi, senior equity trader at Cabrera Capital Markets Inc in Boston.

Earnings are expected to be only slightly better than the third-quarter's lackluster results, and analysts' current estimates are down sharply from where they were in October. Fourth-quarter earnings growth is expected to come in at 2.8 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Aluminum company Alcoa Inc begins the reporting season by announcing its results after Tuesday's market close. Alcoa shares fell 1.7 percent at $9.10.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> dropped 50.92 points, or 0.38 percent, to 13,384.29. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> fell 4.58 points, or 0.31 percent, to 1,461.89. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> lost 2.84 points, or 0.09 percent, to 3,098.81.

Ten mortgage servicers - including Bank of America , Citigroup , JPMorgan , and Wells Fargo - agreed on Monday to pay $8.5 billion to end a case-by-case review of foreclosures required by U.S. regulators.

In a separate case, Bank of America also announced roughly $11.6 billion of settlements with mortgage finance company Fannie Mae and a $1.8 billion sale of collection rights on home loans.

The bank also entered into agreements with Nationstar Mortgage Holdings and Walter Investment Management to sell about $306 billion of residential mortgage servicing rights.

Bank of America shares lost 0.2 percent at $12.09 while Nationstar Mortgage Holdings jumped 16.8 percent to $38.83.

Citigroup shares were up 0.09 percent to $42.47, and Wells Fargo shares fell 0.5 percent to $34.77.

"The financials probably have the wind behind them now with a lot of the regulations coming out ... the market has to absorb a lot of the gains, and for that reason there's a pullback from this level," said Warren West, principal at Greentree Brokerage Services in Philadelphia.

Shares of U.S. jet maker Boeing Co dropped 2 percent after a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft with no passengers on board caught fire at Boston's Logan International Airport on Monday morning.

Amazon.com shares hit their highest price ever at $269.22 after Morgan Stanley raised is rating on the stock. Shares were up 3.6 percent at $268.46.

Video-streaming service Netflix Inc shares gained 3.4 percent to $99.20 after it said it will carry previous seasons of some popular shows produced by Time Warner's Warner Bros Television.

Walt Disney Co stock fell 2.3 percent to $50.97. The company started an internal cost-cutting review several weeks ago that may include layoffs at its studio and other units, three people with knowledge of the effort told Reuters.

Volume was lower than average, as 4.78 billion shares were traded on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE MKT and Nasdaq. This is well below the 2012 average of 6.42 billion per session.

Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,629 to 1,363, while on the Nasdaq decliners beat advancers 1,438 to 1,066.

(Reporting By Gabriel Debenedetti; Editing by Kenneth Barry and Nick Zieminski)

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Drilling barge pulled from rocks off Alaska island

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A large floating drill rig that ran aground a week ago on a remote Alaska island arrived as planned Monday in the shelter of a Kodiak Island bay after being towed about 45 miles through swells as high as 15 feet, officials said.

The Royal Dutch Shell PLC vessel was lifted off rocks late Sunday and towed away from the southeast side of Sitkalidak Island, where it sat exposed to the full-on fury of Gulf of Alaska winter storms since grounding near the beach there on New Year’s Eve.

The Kulluk — a circular barge with a diameter as long as nearly three basketball courts — was towed for about 12 hours to the protected waters in Kiliuda Bay, where it will undergo further inspection, including an underwater look at its hull.

“We could not be more impressed with the caliber of the response and recovery crews who were safe and meticulous in their effort to move the Kulluk offshore,” Shell Alaska spokesman Curtis Smith said by email.

The vessel will remain in the bay 43 miles southwest of the city of Kodiak until inspectors review its condition and the Coast Guard clears it to travel. Shell incident commander Sean Churchfield said there’s no timetable for departure.

“Until we have that damage assessment, we’ll not be able to develop those plans,” Churchfield said at a news conference Monday.

The massive effort to move and salvage the ship involves more than 730 people, according to the Unified Command, which includes the Coast Guard, Shell and contractors involved in the tow and salvage operation. Eleven people are aboard the ship — a salvage crew of 10 people and one Shell representative

Shell earlier reported superficial damage above the deck and seawater that entered through open hatches. Water has knocked out regular and emergency generators, but portable generators were put on board last week.

The Kulluk is 266 feet in diameter with a derrick in its middle and a funnel-shaped, reinforced steel hull that allows it to operate in ice. Its derrick rises 160 feet. The barge drilled last year in the Beaufort Sea and was headed to Seattle for upgrades and maintenance when it ran into trouble.

Its towing vessel, the 360-foot anchor handler Aiviq, on Dec. 27 lost its line to the Kulluk in heavy seas and hours later lost power to all four of its engines, possibly due to contaminated fuel.

Four reattached lines between the Aiviq or other vessels also broke in stormy weather. The Aiviq on New Year’s Eve again broke its line, leaving the Kulluk attached to the tugboat Alert.

Coast Guard Capt. Paul Mehler, the federal on-scene coordinator, said Monday the Alert also experienced a mechanical problem the night the Kulluk went aground. The agency is investigating.

“The understanding the night of the response was that when she was taking maximum power, there was an engine problem,” Mehler said. “They did recover that within 30 minutes. The details of that, I couldn’t answer yet.”

Inspections after the grounding determined that the Kulluk could be towed, and the Aiviq on Sunday reattached a tow line. Tension was added to test the line Sunday night and increased as high tide approached, Churchfield said.

He was not on scene but did not hear of complications.

“The Kulluk came off reasonably easy, would be my assessment,” he said.

Mehler said he was in the command center when salvors reported the Kulluk had come off the rocks.

“I won’t say that I saw anyone high-fiving,” Mehler said. “I’ll say there was certainly a sense of relief, but recognizing now we have a lot more work to do.”

Likewise, the tow “has gone pretty much according to plan,” Churchfield said.

Inspections will involve an underwater look at the hull with divers or remotely operated underwater vehicles or divers or both, he said.

The Kulluk will be tethered to two tugs in the bay and will attempt to set its anchor. If that doesn’t work, he said, additional tugs will be used to keep it in place. Four more tugs were on scene Monday.

A tug trailing the drill vessel used infrared equipment to watch for oil sheens and reported no petroleum discharge.

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Asian shares slip, Basel ruling supports banks

LONDON (Reuters) - World equities and oil prices eased on Monday as some investors booked profits after last week's strong gains, but optimism over the global growth outlook limited the falls.

Data from the United States on Friday showed employers kept up a steady pace of hiring in December and its vast services sector was expanding at a brisk rate, while manufacturing surveys pointed to growing activity in China.

This compounded the boost to markets last week when U.S. lawmakers averted a budget crisis, at least for the moment.

"There is a lot of optimism in the market because the U.S. 'fiscal cliff' has been avoided, Europe's debt crisis has eased and the Chinese economy seems to be growing again," said Koen De Leus, senior economist at KBC Group.

The FTSE Eurofirst <.fteu3> index of top European shares was little changed near its 22-month high hit last week, while the MSCI's broad world equity index <.miwd00000pus> dipped 0.1 percent but remained close to an 18-month peak.

Financial shares outperformed the broader market after global regulators relaxed plans for tough new liquidity rules on Sunday. The STOXX 600 European banking index <.sx7p> was up by 1.2 percent.

"The move gives the banking sector some breathing space, which would be good for the economy as a whole," De Leus said.

Brent crude oil futures slipped 40 cents to $110.89 per barrel after rising 0.6 percent last week.

Investors were beginning to look to the first policy meetings of the year at the European Central Bank and Bank of England on Thursday when no rate moves are expected but new euro zone forecasts are due.

Some analysts expect the ECB to point to the chances of an easing in rates early this year, a week after the U.S. Federal Reserve indicated it may pursue less accommodative policies in future. More immediately, the Bank of Japan is set to take major steps to stimulate the country's economy as the new government aims to end deflation and recession.

The possibility of less monetary stimulus in 2013 from the Fed and more from the Bank of Japan sent the dollar to a two-and-a-half year peak against the yen last week but profit taking saw it ease on Monday by 0.5 percent to 87.75 yen.

Against the euro, the dollar gained 0.3 percent to $1.3030.

In the European bond markets German Bund futures rose 0.4 percent after their steep falls last week with investors focused on auctions by Spain and Italy later in the week.

Last week's revelation of a more cautious Fed attitude to further monetary stimulus will put much attention on 10- and 30-year U.S. Treasury debt sales this week.

(Additional reporting by Atul Prakash; editing by David Stamp)

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