VENTURE CAPITAL POST

The surging value of the U.S. dollar may be posing the biggest threat to U.S. corporate earnings since the 2008 financial crisis, hurting results at most U.S.-based multinationals. Some on Wall Street are even talking about an earnings recession.

U.S. stocks rose in a broad rally on Thursday, bouncing back from two days of losses, helped by weaker retail sales that paused the dollar's recent rally and tempered the outlook for interest rates.

The U.S. dollar climbed to multi-year peaks against the euro and yen in Asia on Tuesday amid starkly diverging outlooks for interest rates globally, while currencies from emerging markets came under mounting pressure from risk aversion.

China's long-awaited international payment system to process cross-border yuan transactions is ready, and may be launched as early as September or October, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Brent crude oil prices rose more than a dollar to above $60.50 a barrel on Tuesday, tracking firmer Asian markets, but analysts warned the market remained oversupplied.

Asian stocks got off to a steady start on Monday as soft U.S. data was partially offset by a weekend interest rate cut by China, while the dollar hit a five-week high against the euro.

International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N), which ruled computing in the age of the mainframe, is targeting $40 billion in annual revenue from the cloud, big data, security and other growth areas by 2018.

Possible interest rate increases in the months ahead are unlikely to have a major impact on growth in Mexico, central bank governor Agustin Carstens said on Tuesday.

The U.S. dollar was nursing losses in Asia on Thursday while bonds held hefty gains as investors scaled back expectations on how fast, and how far, the Federal Reserve might raise interest rates in coming months and years.

Oil rose above $60 a barrel on Friday for the first time this year, bringing its gain this week to almost 4 percent, supported by signs that deeper industry spending cuts may curb excess supply.

Oil prices rallied sharply on Thursday after two days of losses as news of deeper industry spending cuts and a sinking U.S. dollar revived buying.

Asian stock markets turned cautious on Wednesday while the U.S. dollar crept higher as looming euro zone meetings to discuss the Greek debt crisis threatened to produce more confusion than clarity.

Russians with foreign-currency mortgages have written an open letter to President Vladimir Putin seeking help with repayments that have soared because of the ruble's plunge, saying they were misled by banks.

European stocks dipped and low-rated bond yields rose on Monday after dismal Chinese trade data and signs of increasingly fraught relations between Greece and its international creditors kept investors cautious.

The U.S. dollar steadied on Wednesday after its worst day in more than a year, and a retreat in oil prices after four days of gains halted a rally in European stock markets.