VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Stock markets rallied around the world on Tuesday while the U.S. dollar fell after the new Greek government dropped calls for a write-down of its foreign debt, easing concerns about growing instability in the euro zone.

Sharp gains in the U.S. dollar are good for the U.S. labor market, a top Federal Reserve official said on Friday, downplaying a crescendo of complaints from top executives over the dent to their profits.

U.S. economic growth slowed sharply in the fourth quarter as weak business spending and a wider trade deficit offset the fastest pace of consumer spending since 2006.

Ratings agency S&P cut Russia's sovereign credit rating to junk status on Monday, bringing it below investment grade for the first time in a decade.

Asian shares held near eight-week highs on Thursday as investors bet on the likely size and scope of a bond-buying program the European Central Bank is poised to unveil later in the day in an attempt to revive the flagging euro zone economy.

The U.S. dollar took a dip on Monday as Asian investors caught up with a benign payrolls report and the subsequent slide in Treasury yields, though turnover was light with Tokyo on holiday.

The euro tumbled to its lowest since early 2006 in Asia on Monday as a wave of stop-loss sales were tripped on the break of major chart support, sending the U.S. dollar flying higher against a range of competitors.

Chinese stocks were celebrating their best year in five on Wednesday while markets elsewhere in Asia were ending 2014 on a cautionary note as worries about Greece's future in the euro zone served as an excuse to take profits on crowded trades.

Asian markets were set for a cautious close to 2014 on Wednesday as worries about Greece's future in the euro zone served as an excuse to take profits on popular trades.

The yen edged higher on Tuesday as a fall in oil prices dented risk appetite and prompted investors to trim short positions in the Japanese currency.

The cost of lending gold returned to positive territory on Friday for the first time in over a month, capping a dramatic week-long recovery, as robust U.S. jobless data reinforced expectations of higher interest rates next year.

The yen scaled a one-month high against the dollar on Monday, as heightened worries about the health of the global economy continued to shore up the safe-haven Japanese currency.

The suddenly unstoppable U.S. dollar is posing a triple threat to American companies' profits: driving up the costs of doing business overseas, suppressing the value of non-U.S. sales and, perhaps most worryingly, signaling weak international demand.

The coming year is unlikely to bring any relief to the weakening Canadian dollar as the Bank of Canada's neutral stance prompted analysts in a Reuters poll to renew their pessimistic forecasts for the currency.

The U.S. dollar headed for its ninth straight week of gains on Friday, some measure of how the economic fortunes of the United States and its major economic peers are diverging after six years of financial turmoil.