Gold prices edged higher Thursday after the European Central Bank decided to again hold key interest rates steady at 1%.

Metals traders also keyed on what ECB officials would have to say about Greece and the broader problem of sovereign debt in the euro zone during a news conference.

"We also don't expect further announcement on the phasing out of the ECB's emergency measures, as the Greek debt crisis will be tying the central bank's hand at the moment," said analysts at Action Economics.

Gold futures for June delivery traded up $5.30 to $1,180.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

On Wednesday, June gold finished $5.80 an ounce higher, good for a 0.5% advance.

Kate Gibson is a reporter for MarketWatch, based in New York.

The dollar rallies on stronger.

Rise in the dollar last Friday, a series of strong against major currencies on expectations the data to promote the view that the U.S. economic recovery faster than other developed countries.
The euro fell the lowest level since mid-July, only slightly higher than the 1.39 U.S. dollars as investors still worried about the smaller euro-zone countries, such as Greece and Portugal, a number of financial health.
U.S. economic growth rate higher than expected 5.7 percent clip in the fourth quarter, the fastest pace in more than six years. A separate report showed U.S. Midwest business activity expanded more than expected, while consumer confidence hit a two-year highs. For more information, please see [ID: nN28246399]
"The market is considering this issue as the United States, toughness, and comparing with the euro zone and Britain, and even signs of weakness in Asia," Dolan said that in Forex.com in Bedminster, New Jersey, chief foreign exchange policy. "So this is one reason the U.S. dollar benefited from, I must have a higher U.S. dollar in the next few weeks."
In the morning trading, the dollar rose 0.9 percent to ¥ 90.72 yen, rose to 90.92, the highest in about a week, according to Reuters data.
The euro against 1.3912 U.S. dollars, down 0.4 percent one day. It has fallen to 1.39 ○ San dollars, July 13 the lowest level since, according to Reuters data.
European Union Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said Friday, the European Union on the Greek government rescue is not possible to expand the premium rise, investors demand will remain 10-year Greek government bonds, rather than the benchmark German bond yields. [ID: nLDE60S0XN]
ICE Futures U.S. dollar index is a basket of six major currencies measures, touched 79.327 high. "Dollar index" the best since the mid-August. It rose 0.4 percent.

The jim Garlanda,who owns a corporate aircraft cleaning and support services company.

For Jim Garland, who owns a corporate aircraft cleaning and support services company, a $14 per hour worker has a true cost of $19.63 per hour, or about 40% more than base pay. This so-called "loaded rate" includes fixed expenses -- federal and state taxes, health insurance, workman's compensation, uniforms, and paid time off -- along with soft costs like the time spent training a new hireWashington's lawmakers are throwing a lot of ammo at reducing the jobless rate, including a new tax break for hiring the unemployed. But no matter what incentives the government offers, it's hard to convince business owners to hire until they're absolutely certain they need to. Employees are often the most expensive investment a business makes.
"Our entire existence revolves around two numbers: revenue and payroll," Garland said of Sharp Details, in Dulles, Va., which he launched out of his car trunk in 1991. Payroll for 60 workers accounts for around 70% of his firm's operating costs.
Garland outsources his entire human resource department. Joe Sherrier, director of human resources for Employment Enterprises -- the company that manages Garland's HR -- said that as a general rule, business owners should to expect an employee to cost an additional 25% to 30% on top of base salary each year.

The Washington-based company reported a net loss attributable to common shareholders of $16.33 billion or $2.87 per share for the fourth quarter,

Correction: Corrects the loss per share figure for the year-ago quarter.Government-sponsored home mortgage finance company Fannie Mae (FNM: News ), Friday reported a loss for the fourth quarter that narrowed from last year on lower credit related expenses, impairments and fair value losses. Further, the company said it has applied for additional $15.3 billion aid from the federal government and is dependent on the continued support of Treasury for operation of its business. The Washington-based company reported a net loss attributable to common shareholders of $16.33 billion or $2.87 per share for the fourth quarter, compared to a loss of $25.25 billion $4.47 per share in the prior year quarter. Net loss for the fourth quarter included $1.15 billion of dividends on senior preferred stock held by the U.S. Department of Treasury.The company said that the fourth quarter net loss was driven primarily by credit expenses, which declined sequentially but remained at an elevated level, and recognition of a $5.0 billion loss on the company's low income housing tax credit investments.The fourth quarter loss left Fannie Mae with a net worth deficit of $15.3 billion as of December 31, 2009, considering unrealized gains on available-for-sale securities during the fourth quarter.
Fannie Mae said the director of Federal Housing Finance Agency or FHFA submitted a request to Treasury on February 25, for an additional $15.3 billion on the company's behalf to eliminate its net worth deficit. FHFA has requested that Treasury provide the funds on or prior to March 31, 2010.On December 31, 2009, Fannie Mae had received $15.0 billion from Treasury under the senior preferred stock purchase agreement. As a result of this draw, the aggregate liquidation preference of the senior preferred stock increased to $60.9 billion as of December 31, 2009 from $45.9 billion. It is expected to increase to $76.2 billion upon the receipt of funds from Treasury to eliminate the company's fourth-quarter 2009 net worth deficit. On December 24, 2009, the Treasury amended the senior preferred stock purchase agreement. Under the terms of amended agreement, the cap on Treasury's funding commitment to Fannie Mae will increase as necessary to accommodate any net worth deficits for calendar quarters in 2010 through 2012. For any net worth deficits after December 31, 2012, Treasury's remaining funding commitment will be $124.8 billion, less any positive net worth as of December 31, 2012.

The recent trend towards risk aversion has become so pervasive

With the US non-farm payrolls (NFP) report scheduled for release; many traders believed Friday’s session could turn out to be another extremely volatile day for the dollar. While in fact the session would prove to be highly active, the impetus for the bustle wasn’t the event risk but rather the momentum behind underlying sentiment trends. Essentially, the recent trend towards risk aversion has become so pervasive that it has been able to overpower event risk that does not conform to the direct interest in unwinding high-yield positions. In the final three days of this past week, the benchmarks for the various asset classes have forged meaningful progress towards establishing a lasting bear trend that draws capital out of over-bought securities and redirects it to safe havens. This is particularly supportive of the greenback as the reversed flow of speculative funds means carry trades financed with dollar loans will encourage repatriation; and global investors will further look to the dollar for its liquidity and the backing of US Treasuries. Considering many risk-related assets (especially equities) are still in the early stages of their corrections, there is a good source of momentum. At the same time, the dollar has already retraced over 50 percent of the losses it accumulated against the euro through 2009. Does this mean the greenback’s rally can persist for as long as these other markets retrace? Unlikely. Eventually, the carry flows will be tapped and the correlation will start to break down. Yet, such a shift could still be a long way off.In the meantime, it is worthwhile to reflect on the dollar’s reaction (or lack thereof) to the January labor data. The response to the December payrolls was substantial as risk appetite was sparked not by that month’s reading but the positive revision to the November figure to 4,000 jobs added. Psychologically, this positive reading was the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ after two years of net losses. However, this milestone has been met and now the real fundamental considerations begin. With this Friday’s report, the 20,000 net loss was unexpected and the previous loss was nearly doubled to a 150,000 drop. On the other hand, the unemployment rate would fall from 10 percent to 9.7 percent – the biggest drop since 1998. For volatility traders, this data had little direction. To fundamentals traders, the improvement in the rate in the face of job losses was a sign of discouraged American’s dropping out of the labor pool. This is not a positive turn as those leaving the pool are still without jobs (not contributing to growth) and they will likely return when conditions improve. Nonetheless, this would inevitably end up a non-event. With over 8.5 million jobs lost since the beginning of 2008, it will take a considerable pace of large payroll increases to reduce the jobless rate while still handling new entrants to the labor force. Looking ahead to next week, the docket is exceedingly light. The bounce in risk trends and pull back in the dollar through the end of Friday suggests the bear trend won’t be overbearing for Monday’s open. On the other hand, without many fundamental hurdles to worry about; currency traders may be more confident in setting positions that look for developing trends.

The Australion dollar fell to multi-week lows against

The Australian dollar fell to multi-week lows against major currencies on Friday as investors fled riskier trades and higher-yielding currencies, unwinding leveraged positions funded in U.S. dollars and yen. Investors were unnerved by persistent worries about the fiscal health of Greece and other smaller euro zone countries. That hurt the euro EUR=, dragged down Asian stocks and the overall downbeat mood also weighed on the Aussie.
The Aussie hovered around $0.8905 AUD=D4 after touching a one-month low of $0.8884. It is down a cent for the week and well off last week's high of $0.9263.
The Aussie also hit a six-week low against the yen at 79.67 yen AUDJPY=R, with investors seeking refuge in the safe-haven yen as stocks fell globally. The Aussie lost nearly 4.0 percent in January.
But John Kyriakopoulos, a currency strategist at National Australia Bank, said risk aversion among investors may not last.
"Through most of the week, U.S. economic data has been disappointing. We need to see better news on the U.S. economy, a circuit breaker to risk aversion," Kyriakopoulos said.
The first relief could come as early as late Friday when the United States releases fourth-quarter gross domestic product data at 1330GMT.
The median forecast is for growth to quicken to an annual rate of 4.6 percent, from 2.2 percent in the third quarter, mainly due to inventory rebuilding.
But more importantly, Kyriakopoulos said he sees a potential European Union bailout of Greece, which is hurdled by heavy public debt, and Chinese policy tightening, as good news for risk appetite.
Markets will also focus next week on the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) policy decision on Tuesday. A 25-basis-point rate hike to 4 percent is widely expected CSRBA=CSAU as the RBA reins in stimulus on the back of rising inflation, a revival in employment and robust consumption. [ID:nSGE60S035]
The re-appointment of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for a second term earlier on Friday by the U.S. Senate may also be good news for risk appetite at the margin, but with U.S. stocks sinking, investors are set to remain cautious.
Aussie government bonds were up as stocks fell. Three-year bond futures YTTc1 up 0.140 points at 95.130, while the ten-year contract gained 0.090 points at 94.550.

Investors were unnerved by persistent worries about the fiscal health of Greece and other smaller euro zone countries. That hurt the euro EUR=, dragged down Asian stocks and the overall downbeat mood also weighed on the Aussie.

The Aussie hovered around $0.8905 AUD=D4 after touching a one-month low of $0.8884. It is down a cent for the week and well off last week's high of $0.9263.

The Aussie also hit a six-week low against the yen at 79.67 yen AUDJPY=R, with investors seeking refuge in the safe-haven yen as stocks fell globally. The Aussie lost nearly 4.0 percent in January.

But John Kyriakopoulos, a currency strategist at National Australia Bank, said risk aversion among investors may not last.

"Through most of the week, U.S. economic data has been disappointing. We need to see better news on the U.S. economy, a circuit breaker to risk aversion," Kyriakopoulos said.

The first relief could come as early as late Friday when the United States releases fourth-quarter gross domestic product data at 1330GMT.

The median forecast is for growth to quicken to an annual rate of 4.6 percent, from 2.2 percent in the third quarter, mainly due to inventory rebuilding.

But more importantly, Kyriakopoulos said he sees a potential European Union bailout of Greece, which is hurdled by heavy public debt, and Chinese policy tightening, as good news for risk appetite.

Markets will also focus next week on the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) policy decision on Tuesday. A 25-basis-point rate hike to 4 percent is widely expected CSRBA=CSAU as the RBA reins in stimulus on the back of rising inflation, a revival in employment and robust consumption. [ID:nSGE60S035]

The re-appointment of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for a second term earlier on Friday by the U.S. Senate may also be good news for risk appetite at the margin, but with U.S. stocks sinking, investors are set to remain cautious.

Aussie government bonds were up as stocks fell. Three-year bond futures YTTc1 up 0.140 points at 95.130, while the ten-year contract gained 0.090 points at 94.550.

The Red Cross mobilized fundraising efforts via social networking site Twitter

Donations via text message raised $5 million for the American Red Cross's Haiti relief efforts as of 5 p.m. Thursday.
Soon after a 7.0-magnitude quake struck near capital city Port-au-Prince late Tuesday, Donations via text message raised $5 million for the American Red Cross's Haiti relief efforts . Just before midnight, @RedCross tweeted: "You can text "HAITI" to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts in #haiti."And so far a staggering 500,000 customers have done just that, across all wireless networks including AT&T (T, Fortune 500), Verizon (VZ, Fortune 500), Sprint (S, Fortune 500) and T-Mobile.
"These are donors who are typically the hardest to reach: young people," said Verizon Wireless spokesman Jeffrey Nelson. "They're reacting to something that affects them and realizing theiMobile giving isn't new, but it's been in the spotlight since the Haiti earthquake hit. In fact, the $5 million that's been raised so far by the Red Cross far exceeds the nearly $4 million that was donated to all charities by mobile texts in all of 2009, said a spokeswoman for the organization.
Organizations including the ASPCA, Feed the Children and World Land Trust all have 5-digit numbers to which subscribers can text donations at any time.r few dollars can make a difference. Texting has opened up a whole new world for philanthropy."Nelson said Verizon Wireless (VZ, Fortune 500) has a long-standing policy that it does not charge subscribers for texts to make charitable donations, and added that 100% of the donated funds are passed on to the Red Cross. T-Mobile also said its subscribers can text Haiti donations for free.
News reports earlier Thursday said AT&T (T, Fortune 500) was charging subscribers for their texts. But a spokesman said Thursday afternoon that the company had updated its systems in the morning to make texts sent to Haiti relief efforts free of charge, and that the change would cover those who donated yesterday.
Sprint said it will continue to treat donation texts "like any other text message for now."