going well.
President Barack Obama abruptly ended a tense budget meetingon Wednesday by walking out of the room, a Republican aidefamiliar with the talks said.
"In our view
my blog Cheap NFL Jerseys RIM.TO, the chance of the US defaulting briefly ifthe political process goes off track is a risk that investorsshould not ignore," said Mike Schumacher, a strategist at UBS.
He noted that, according to Intrade.com, the probability ofCongress approving an increase in the U.S. debt ceiling by theend of July was only 40 percent and recommend buying 10-yearbunds against Treasuries.
The latest U.S. debt woes were a timely diversion for theeuro given Fitch had just downgraded Greece deeper into junkterritory, citing the absence of a new and fully fundedfinancing program. See .
Italy faces a tough test later on Thursday when it sells upto 5 billion euros of new debt, with dealers expecting it willhave to pay high yields to attract demand.
And Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said the eurozone and International Monetary Fund must quickly approve asecond bailout for his country to avoid its economic reformplans collapsing .
Asia seemed an oasis of calm in comparison, thanks in largepart to the continued strength of China where data on growth,industrial output and retail sales had all beaten expectations.
That was one reason the Australian dollar again defied bearsby rallying to $1.0780 , a marked turnaround from a$1.0521 trough touched early in the week.
Currencies
* Dollar gets respite
my blog , Bernanke backs off easing talk
* Fear of U.S. downgrade
my blog , default to limit dollar gains
* Euro zone debt concerns continue to weigh on euro
* Yen soars on risk aversion, Japan ups verbal warnings (Recasts
my blog , updates prices, adds comment, detail)
By Steven C. Johnson
NEW YORK, July 14 - The dollar erased lossesagainst most major currencies on Thursday after Federal ReserveChairman Ben Bernanke doused mounting market speculation thatanother round of monetary easing was on the