By Sara Sjolin and Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) — The British pound dropped against most major currencies on Tuesday after a weak reading on industrial production stoked expectations of further monetary easing by the Bank of England, while the Australian dollar recovered against the dollar.

The pound GBPUSD -0.58% exchanged hands at $1.4871 down from $1.4950 in late North American trade on Monday. The currency had traded as high as $1.4981 earlier in Tuesday’s session but was sent lower after weaker-than-expected U.K. industrial production data spurred doubts about the sector’s recovery. Manufacturing fell 0.8% in May compared with April, while industrial production was flat for the month.

“Such readings are a disappointment coming on the back of more upbeat survey data, with the manufacturing PMI having climbed back into growth territory above 50 in April and remained there since, whilst broader survey data on the sector has also been more upbeat,” said Victoria Clarke, analyst at Investec Securities in a note.

“We view today’s report as providing further ammunition for [Bank of England Gov.] Mark Carney to argue his case for providing the U.K. recovery with a further shot in the arm for recovery at its August meeting, with an announcement on forward guidance now looking almost certain at that meeting but with broader support including an uplift to the [quantitative easing] target also likely,” she said.

Quantitative easing tends to weigh on the related country’s currency.

Aussie recovers

Meanwhile, the Australian dollar AUDUSD +0.35% recovered a bit and traded at 91.74 U.S. cents. It had sat at 91.18 cents just before the National Australia Bank said its survey of business conditions hit a more-than-four-year low and “paints a worrying picture” of Australia’s economy.

Shutterstock.com Enlarge Image
The euro ticks lower, retreating from gains made after news of a Greek aid deal.
The NAB survey sent the Aussie falling below 91 cents, as its June survey of Australian businesses showed a reading on conditions fell to minus 8 points from minus 4 points in May, the weakest level since May 2009.

NAB said its survey indicated business conditions in Australia were “very bad” in the retail, mining and manufacturing sectors despite low interest rates and a decline in the Australian dollar, though signs were slightly better for exports broadly.

Worries about slowing in the Australian economy as it faces a peak in mining investment have contributed to a more-than-12% loss in the Aussie against the dollar this year.

“Domestic weakness implied by this survey, along with softness in China, a weaker terms of trade and financial market volatility, encourages us to bring our next expected rate cut forward to August (previously November), assuming no downside surprises from unemployment or inflation,” NAB chief economist Alan Oster wrote in the survey’s report.

Reserve Bank of Australia Gov. Glenn Stevens earlier this month indicated the bank may further cut the policy interest rate, which currently stands at a record-low 2.75%. NAB said it expects the bias to easing to continue beyond August.

Dollar index regains ground

The ICE dollar index DXY +0.17% , which measures the U.S. unit against six other major currencies, rose to 84.282, compared with 84.172 late Monday in North America. The WSJ Dollar Index XX:BUXX +0.18% , which measures the currency against a slightly wider basket, rose to 76.04 from 75.99.

The indexes were aided by the greenback’s advance against the euro, as the shared currency EURUSD -0.12% bought $1.2866, down from $1.2871 late Monday.

Click to Play
Central banking’s newest fad
The new fad in central banking is something called macroprudential policy: targeting controls at particular areas of concern, such as raising minimum down-payment rules for home mortgages.

Europe’s shared currency had risen on Monday, finding some support after Greece reached a deal with international creditors.

The euro’s gain on Monday helped pull the ICE dollar index back from a three-year high, which it reached after U.S. jobs data for June last week reinforced expectations the Federal Reserve will soon start tapering the pace of monetary stimulus to the economy.

Minutes from the Fed’s meeting last month are due Wednesday, and they could provide more insight into when the central bank may start slowing the pace of its asset purchases.

“Given how much the dollar has risen, the minutes may need to show significant support for tapering in September for the dollar to extend its gains,” wrote BK Asset Management managing director Kathy Lien in a note Monday.

“However, even if the [Federal Open Market Committee] minutes do not do the trick, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke could give the dollar a boost” when he speaks on Wednesday afternoon, Lien said.

Bernanke, who will address the National Bureau of Economic Research in Boston, is expected to take questions from the audience, “an environment that is ripe for him to say something that could cause more volatility in the dollar,” said Lien.

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar USDJPY +0.26% traded at ¥101.11, up from ¥100.96.

Sara Sjolin is a MarketWatch reporter based in London. Follow her on Twitter @sarasjolin.
Carla Mozee is a reporter for MarketWatch, based in Los Angeles. Follow her on Twitter @MWMozee.

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) —

Futures for benchmark U.S. crude-oil lost ground Tuesday, with a stronger U.S. dollar tugging prices away from their best level in more than a year.

Crude for August delivery CLQ3 -0.38% shed 7 cents to $103.07 a barrel in electronic trade.

Oil on Monday fell 8 cents, or 0.1%, on the New York Mercantile Exchange as investors weighed the impact of a rising dollar on prices against violence in Egypt, which has left at least 50 people dead and hundreds injured in clashes between Egyptian security forces and supporters of ousted former Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi.

Reuters
Oil futures extend their losses from Monday as the U.S. dollar moves higher.
Although Egypt isn’t an oil producer, the country controls the Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean and Red seas and is considered a key route for transporting crude oil produced in the Middle East and North Africa.

“With the recent collapse of the Egyptian government, and Syria still embroiled in a civil war, there is the potential for more unrest,” said BlackRock global chief investment strategist Russ Koesterich in a note to clients Monday.

Political and “terrorism risks have already impacted oil production in several countries, including Nigeria, Iran and Iraq,” said Koesterich. “Fortunately, rising U.S. production has offset these losses, but oil prices are creeping higher, and any further disruption in production would likely send them higher still.”

Oil price moves were limited Tuesday as the U.S. dollar advanced, as measured by the ICE dollar index DXY +0.19% , which tracks the U.S. unit against six other major currencies.

The index hovered at a three-year high on expectations that the Federal Reserve will slow the pace of monetary stimulus to the economy. Analysts have said the asset purchases have hurt the dollar’s value.

Strengthening in the greenback can make dollar-denominated oil futures more expensive for holders of other currencies.

Click to Play
Egypt clashes leave dozens dead
Bloodshed follows in the wake of the ouster of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi.Photo: AP.

Oil prices last week jumped nearly 7% in the wake of political unrest in Egypt. On Monday, Egypt’s interim president Adly Mansour said an amended constitution would go to a national vote for approval within the next five months, with new presidential and parliamentary elections likely for early 2014, according to reports.

As well as watching developments from the Middle East, investors will monitor U.S. crude-oil supply data due this week.

In data for the week ended July 5, Citi Futures said it expects to see some recovery in U.S. imports from Canada, but it also anticipates a further overall stock decline of roughly 4 million barrels to 6 million barrels.

The Energy Information Administration last week said crude-oil supplies dropped by 10.3 million barrels for the week ended June 28, more than three times the amount expected by analysts polled by Platts.

In other energy trading Monday, August Brent oil UK:LCOQ3 -0.37% fell 31 cents, or 0.3%, to $107.12 a barrel on ICE Futures.

August natural gas NGQ13 -1.18% slipped 1 cent to $3.73 per million British thermal units. August gasoline RBQ3 -0.16% remained at $2.88 a gallon, and August heating oil HOQ3 -0.32% held at $2.98 a gallon.

Carla Mozee is a reporter for MarketWatch, based in Los Angeles. Follow her on Twitter @MWMozee.

July 9, 2013 2:35 AM

By YUKA HAYASHI

TOKYO—The Japanese government, citing a tense territorial dispute with China and growing North Korean belligerence, said it anticipates greater threats to national security that require enhanced military capabilities and a further strengthening of ties with the U.S.
In the first defense white paper released under the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Tokyo used more nationalist rhetoric and adopted a far more vigilant tone than in previous years in describing the regional security challenges the country faces and how it plans to respond to them.
In the foreword to the white paper, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said the issues and destabilizing factors in Japan’s security environment “have become pronounced, acute and more problematic,” adding somewhat forcefully that Japan will “protect our people’s lives and assets, and our territorial land, sea and sky, till the end.”
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned to power last December with a pledge to stand firm against regional provocations—particularly the intensifying dispute with China over a chain of uninhabited East China Sea islands and the growing threats of North Korea’s nuclear-weapons program. His administration’s doorstop-size white paper offers detailed analyses of those regional security issues and Japan’s own defense capabilities and strategies, using a large number of photos, maps and charts.
Mr. Abe’s government has implemented the first increase in Japan’s defense budget in 11 years, pushing up the annual spending by 0.7% to ¥4.68 trillion yen, or $46 billion, and is conducting a review of its long-term defense policy guidelines that will set the course for the nation’s defense strategy for the next decade, the white paper said. The guidelines are expected to be released by the year-end.
While the white paper gave few details about what the guidelines may include, it highlighted two new areas under discussion that could significantly change the nature of the role of the Japanese military as a self-defense force: developing the ability to launch preemptive attacks on enemy bases abroad and the creation of an amphibious force similar to the U.S. Marine Corps.
The white paper’s most significant shift in tone came in its description of China’s soaring military influence and growing territorial assertiveness.
Tokyo said that China “resorts to tactics viewed as high-handed, including attempts to use force to change the status quo, as it insists on its own unique assertions that are inconsistent with the order of the international law.” It added: “Among them are dangerous actions that could lead to unintended consequences. In a way, this makes us concerned where we are headed.”
The statement—made in reference to January encounters in which Japan claimed Chinese ships locked weapons-guiding radar on Japanese self-defense forces targets near the disputed East China Sea islands—includes far more confrontational expressions, compared with a similar section seen in last year’s white paper. The previous wording simply said that China “uses tactics viewed as high-handed, and that in a way makes us concerned where we are headed.”
Japan also complained that intrusions by Chinese ships and aircraft into what it considers its territorial waters and airspace were “extremely deplorable” and asked Beijing to “share in and observe the international order.”
In Beijing Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying described the threat as an attempt to play up the “China threat,” according to the official Xinhua news agency.
“We hope that the Japanese side can adopt a more proper attitude and make efforts to improve political trust and enhance regional peace and stability,” Hua said, according to Xinhua
Regarding territorial disputes, Ms. Hua said China has always insisted on resolving such disagreements through dialogue. “At the same time, China will never allow any country to infringe on its territorial integrity,” she said.
As for North Korea, Tokyo described its development of ballistic missiles, combined with its growing nuclear-weapons capabilities, as “having become a more realistic and pressing issue for the broad international community” and a cause for “extremely grave concern.”
As the growing regional animosities prompt Japan to intensify its defense cooperation with the U.S., the white paper stressed the importance of the bilateral alliance in the nation’s overall national-security framework. The U.S. and Japan have recently started the review of a bilateral defense guidelines with a goal of giving a greater role to Japan in the defense of its own nation and regional security.
Tokyo is also concerned about pressure in Washington to cut U.S. defense spending even as the U.S. seeks to “pivot” its policies toward Asia. “We will be closely monitoring how the severe fiscal constraints might impact the implementation of such policies.”
Another distinctive feature of the latest defense paper is the greater number of mini essays written by members of the Self Defense Forces, an effort apparently aimed at raising the profile of SDF troops. Some of the writers were soldiers involved in the preparation of missile defense at the time of recent North Korean weapons tests. Others included those patrolling and monitoring the front lines of the island dispute with China. There were also essays by those who participated in the increasingly frequent joint military exercises with the U.S., including island-landing drills that elicited angry protests from Beijing.
“We wanted the broad public to hear the voices of the troops who are on the front lines and responding with vigilance,” Masayoshi Tatsumi, press secretary for the defense ministry said.

Yuka Hayashi

By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) — European stock markets were rising for a second straight day on Tuesday, after euro-zone finance ministers agreed on an aid disbursement for Greece and better-than-expected earnings results from Alcoa Inc. sparked cautious optimism about the earnings season.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index XX:SXXP +0.53% climbed 0.5% to 293.94, after closing at the highest level in three weeks on Monday.

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Shares of Electricitée de France SA FR:EDF +8.05% jumped 8.3% after UBS lifted the firm to neutral from sell, citing the outlook for higher tariffs and a nuclear-power life extension as positive catalysts.

Shares of Osram Licht AG XE:OSR +15.40% jumped 13% as HSBC initiated coverage of the firm with an overweight rating. Shares in the former lighting unit of Siemens AG began trading on Monday following a spin-off.

For the broader stock markets, Neil Wilkinson, senior fund manager at Royal London Asset Management, said there were two factors to support the move higher in Tuesday’s trade:

“The U.S. earnings season has kicked off well with the Alcoa earnings and the comments suggested that they expect Chinese growth to be a little stronger than what the market currently thinks,” he said.

He added: “The life support for Greece has been kept on and any difficult decisions that may have to be taken on Greece have been kicked to the other side of the German election.”

“But I think more broadly, the market started last week to digest the beginning of the end of [quantitative easing] in the U.S. and were buoyed by comments we had from the [European Central Bank] and the [Bank of England] that despite easing in the U.S. coming to an end, we will still have low rates for the foreseeable future in Europe and the U.K,” he said.

Global stock markets reached multiyear highs in May, boosted by aggressive easing measures from central banks, but were sent sharply lower when U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said improving economic data strengthened the case for a reduction in easing.

Greece relief

On Tuesday, investors welcomed an agreement from euro-zone finance ministers to disburse 3 billion euros ($3.86 billion) in aid to Greece on condition the country meets the goals laid out under the second international bailout.

“The decision by European politicians to kick the can down the road yet again keeps Greece from immediate insolvency while at the same time minimizing the payments from other European governments, and has been broadly welcomed by markets,” said Rebecca O’Keeffe, head of investment at Interactive Investor, in a note.

Reuters
Euro-zone finance ministers late Monday agree to disburse €3 billion to Greece in aid.
The Athex Composite index GR:GD +0.71% gained 0.5% to 862.71.

European stock markets also mirrored gains seen on Wall Street on Monday, after earnings from aluminum giant Alcoa AA +0.88% beat analysts’ estimates and signaled a positive kickoff to the second-quarter earnings season.

U.S. stock futures also pointed to a higher open on Tuesday.

Among country-specific indexes in Europe, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 index UK:UKX +0.81% climbed 1% to 6,512.15 as mining firms tracked most metals prices higher. Shares of Rio Tinto PLC UK:RIO +2.38% RIO +0.28% AU:RIO +0.77% gained 2.3% and Anglo American PLC UK:AAL +3.13% put on 3.3%.

Germany’s DAX 30 index DX:DAX +0.94% added 0.9% to 8,043.76. Shares of Siemens AG DE:SIE +0.99% rose 1.2% after Deutsche Bank lifted the industrial conglomerate to hold from sell.

France’s CAC 40 index FR:PX1 +0.58% gained 0.5% to 3,843.81. Shares of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton FR:MC +1.90% gained 2.2% after the luxury-goods firm said late Monday it has agreed to buy a majority stake in Italian cashmere brand Loro Piana.

Sara Sjolin is a MarketWatch reporter based in London. Follow her on Twitter @sarasjolin.

BY CURTIS MORGAN
CMORGAN@MIAMIHERALD.COM

Fast-moving Tropical Storm Chantal is expected to sweep across a string of islands over the next few days and could bring nasty weather to South Florida by the weekend.

The southern third of the state is in Chantal’s forecast cone, but the National Hurricane Center expects the storm to weaken considerably by late Friday or Saturday when it could be over the Bahamas or South Florida.

The storm’s maximum winds increased to 50 mph on Tuesday and Chantal is expected to continue gaining strength to 65 mph over the next three days as it barrels through the Lesser Antilles and into the Caribbean. The forecast track takes it south of Puerto Rico and potentially across the island of Hispaniola on Wednesday and Thursday before it begins to slow and turn sharply to the northwest.

The storm’s speed — it was rocketing west-northwest at 26 mph — is expected to inhibit its development, said Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the hurricane center. As it slows and turns more toward South Florida, forecasters expect Chantal to lose much of its punch after crossing the mountains of Haiti. From there, it will also run into increasingly strong wind shear expected to knock it back to a 35 mph tropical depression.

“The trend is that there will be a continued weakening,’’ said Feltgen.

The storm’s swift pace also could reduce flooding damage to vulnerable countries like Haiti. Chantal was expected to bring two to four inches of rain to the Leeward and Windward Islands. It’s too soon to tell what impact the third named storm of the season could have on South Florida.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/07/08/3490348_chantal-threatens-caribbean-south.html#storylink=cpy

By Ben Eisen
NYX

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — NYSE Euronext NYX +0.12% will take control of the London interbank offered rate, according to news reports Tuesday. The key interest rate, which serves as a benchmark for trillions in securities, has been plagued by scandal in recent years after banks were said to have manipulated the rate to their advantage. Libor is currently overseen by the British Bankers’ Association in London, but the lobbying group sought to hand control to another group as it works to restore confidence in the benchmark. The terms of the deal were not immediately known. An announcement is expected later Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

This week I attended, a “Stakeholder Conference” focusing on cosmetic surgery tourism. The event was organised by the research team at the University of Leeds which is delivering the ESRC funded research project, “Sun, Sea, Sand and Silicone”. The research examines two countries in detail as sources of cosmetic surgery tourists, the UK and Australia (as well as some tourists from China and Japan) and considers a number of popular cosmetic surgery tourism destinations including Thailand, Korea, Malaysia, Spain, Poland and Tunisia.
It was a small, invitation only event that brought together academics with some key industry interests and participants . I was asked to provide an overview of outbound UK cosmetic surgery tourism and the issues that patients and the industry face. A key topic for discussion was the issue of regulation and the rights of patients where cosmetic surgery goes wrong.
Intuition’s role through sites such as Treatment Abroad is to enable patients to make an informed choice of cosmetic surgery destination, agency, clinic or surgeon. But the choice for the patient is becoming even harder. Nowadays, they are spoiled for choice… a multitude of destinations, agencies and clinics offer what appears to be the same thing… cosmetic surgery on the cheap. There is little differentiation between providers. The patient who is searching the web for information on cosmetic surgery abroad wants answers to some basic questions about agencies, clinics and surgeons, such as:
What experience do they have?
Is the surgeon any good?
Is it safe?
Will I understand them?
What happens if it goes wrong?
Can I get my money back, if I change my mind?
But the reality is that this information is not easy to obtain, or vague answers are provided to the questions.

Cosmetic surgery abroad: Comparing quality?
Each year, in the Treatment Abroad Medical Tourism Survey, we canvas the views of patients who have travelled abroad for surgery. A large proportion (42%) of UK patients in the survey travelled for cosmetic surgery. A quarter of these went for breast augmentation; the next most popular operations were facelift, tummy tuck, liposuction and eyelid surgery. The most popular destinations for British patients were Belgium, Czech Republic, Turkey, Poland and Cyprus. When you ask patients what were the most important factors in choosing the clinic or surgeon, these three stand out: quality of doctor, quality of clinic and price. Price is (relatively) easy to compare, but how does the patient compare quality?

Areas of dissatisfaction with cosmetic surgery travel
Levels of patient satisfaction are generally lower for cosmetic surgery patients than for other types of surgery. Cosmetic surgery patients are harder to please. This is clearly reflected by the UK cosmetic patients in the Treatment Abroad Medical Tourism Survey. One in five patients expressed dissatisfaction with undergoing cosmetic surgery abroad. This is significantly higher that the dissatisfaction levels of patients who had travelled for dental, obesity and infertility treatment.
ZOOM

The graph shows the key areas of dissatisfaction. Here is a flavour of the responses from patients:
Dissatisfaction with doctor and clinic
“The so called Doctor was of poor quality , full of his own importance.”
“The doctor was inexperienced and a real xxxxxxxx.”
“The hospital was in fact little more than a converted house.”

Dissatisfaction with outcome
“My nipples were put in the totally wrong place.”
“I am leaking fluid and have been on antibiotics due to infection for the last 10 wks”
“I was left with a major scar”.

Dissatisfaction with aftercare
“I was asked to go home the next morning.”
“No aftercare or follow up.”
“I was not advised of after care and procedure.”

What happens when it goes wrong?
The surgeons representing British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPRAS) who attended the stakeholder event raised the issue of who deals with any problems that arise when the patient returns home. In the UK, these problems are picked up and paid for by the NHS; there has been widespread criticism of this in the media. (e.g. Should the NHS fix botched plastic surgery abroad?).
The reality is that cosmetic surgery does go wrong whether it takes place in the UK or another country. The issue for the medical tourism industry is ensuring that a patient has a route to resolution when something goes wrong. The offer of “return to our clinic and we’ll fix it for free” may not be realistic (due to the nature of the complication) or acceptable to the unhappy patient. There are now some medical travel insurance policies around which attempt to fill the gap. But few patients are aware of these or purchase them. In our survey sample, only one in ten of cosmetic surgery travellers had purchased the appropriate kind of medical travel insurance. And far fewer had purchased medical complications insurance.

The role of medical tourism agencies and facilitators
Around one third of the patients in our survey had made their arrangements through an agency or facilitator. The role of the facilitator is to aid patient choice, and ensure a safer and hassle -free patient journey. The worrying aspect of the research was that cosmetic surgery patients travelling via agencies and facilitators expressed a significantly higher level of dissatisfaction. We have to ask… where are these agencies and facilitators adding value?
It is also apparent that agencies and facilitators are becoming more like travel agents in handling the patient journey. Some are booking travel and accommodation for patients, and may well be operating as a travel agent under the UK’s Package Travel Regulations. In which case, they have clear legal obligations with regard to:
The provision of information to customers.
Financial protection and repatriation in the event of company failure.
A specific regime for contractual liability in respect of package holidays.

If in the UK, as in many other countries, there are regulations to protect consumers in the purchase of tourism services from travel agents… so, should the same or similar rules apply to those who act as medical travel agents?

The way forward
Organisations such as BAAPS, BAPRAS and ISAPS are right to be critical of cosmetic surgery tourism when the appropriate checks and balances are missing, and where the patient is clearly not being provided with the appropriate information, follow up care and support. In Europe, CEN is introducing a European Standard, “European Standard in Aesthetic Surgery Services” but this will be a standard… not a compulsory regulation. In the UK, we may see local Trading Standards Officers taking action against medical travel agents under the Package Travel Regulations.
At Treatment Abroad, we’ll continue to look for ways in which we can provide patients with the information they need to make the right choice of clinic or surgeon. But that requires clinics and surgeons to become much more open about what they do, and how they do it, and what arrangements they have in place in source countries for patients when complications (inevitably) arise).

– See more at: http://www.imtj.com/blog/2013/cosmetic-surgery-tourism-time-for-regulation40183/#sthash.SLIBaXMn.dpuf

By Greg Robb, MarketWatch 

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Economists will be trying to figure out what it would take to get the Federal Reserve to begin to slow down the pace of its asset purchases and whether the strong June employment data was enough.

The highlight of the week’s economic reports will come Wednesday when the central bank releases the minutes of the June 18-19 meeting.

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At his press conference after that meeting,Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke laid out a more rapid timetable for the central bank to wind down its $85 billion-per-month bond-buying program than the market had expected.

Bernanke said tapering could start “later this year” and end sometime when the unemployment rate should be “in the vicinity of 7%,”which he would could happen “around midyear” 2014 if the economy continued to improve.

Fed watchers want to know what other Fed officials think about these tapering plans. They want to know what factors caused the Fed to lean toward tapering soon.

Click to Play

Solid Job Numbers Increase Fear of Fed Bond Action

The Labor Department’s strong June employment report – the addition of 195,000 jobs – has improved the odds the Federal Reserve will begin to pull back on its $85 billion-per-month bond-buying program by the end of 2013. WSJ’s Sudeep Reddy explains.

In speeches since Bernanke’s press conference, there seem to be two schools of thought emerging.

Some officials have said no decision to taper has been made yet and any move depends on the data.

For instance, William Dudley, the president of the New York Fed, said last week that a tapering is not “hardwired.” So the data would have to continue to improve between now and September.

The other view, espoused by Fed. Gov. Jeremy Stein, is that the cumulative improvement in the labor market since last September is enough to start the process.

The unemployment rate has fallen from 8.1% when the Fed started the latest round of asset purchases.

In Stein’s view, weak data would only impact the pace of the slowdown in asset purchases, not the start of the process.

“We’ve heard both views, we don’t know where everyone lands,” said Paul Edelstein, U.S. economist for IHS Global Insight.

The minutes may shed some light on whether it will first reduce the speed of its purchases of Treasurys, mortgage-backed securities, or both, said Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics.

The brisk pace of job growth has convinced many economists that the Fed will taper at their meeting in mid-September.

By Sara Sjolin

LONDON (MarketWatch) — European stock markets rallied on Monday, with investors waiting for U.S. bellwether Alcoa Inc. AA +1.30% to kick off the earnings season later in the day. Banks posted some of the biggest gains in the pan-European index. Shares of Banco Comercial Portugues SA PT:BCP +4.60% gained 5.8%, Lloyds Banking Group PLC UK:LLOY +2.68% LYG +0.52% rose 2.5% and Danske Bank AS DK:DANSKE +2.80% picked up 1.6%. Among country-specific indexes, Germany’s DAX 30 index DX:DAX +2.41% jumped 1.2%, while France’s CAC 40 index FR:PX1 +1.90% added 1.1% to 3,795.77. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index UK:UKX +1.02% traded 0.8% higher at 6,425.09.

Read the full story:
Europe stocks rebound ahead of Alcoa earnings