* Euro weakens after Moody's warns on Spain credit rating
* U.S. Treasuries gain on flight-to-safety trade
* U.S. economic data gives greenback, stocks a boost
By Daniel Bases and Alina Selyukh
NEW YORK, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Investors sold the euro to
record lows versus the Swiss franc on Wednesday while
purchasing U.S. Treasuries in a flight to safety after Moody's
Investors Service gave a warning on Spain's credit rating.
In European stocks a two-week rally came to a halt on the
Moody's news while Wall Street shares made moderate advances on
economic data in early trading.
Precious metals prices came under pressure as the U.S.
dollar gained ground. Oil gained following an unexpectedly
large drop in U.S. inventories. For details see
[]
"The ratings news had an impact on the euro, but there has
been no follow-through," said Matthew Strauss, senior currency
strategist, at RBC Capital in Toronto.
"We're starting to see lower liquidity toward the holiday
season, and the market right now is unwilling to take the euro
lower. The momentum is not favoring euro losses because of a
lack of conviction."
Moody's cited concerns about Spain's mounting debt and 2011
funding needs. The decision included the caveat that while the
Aa1 rating could be cut, it does not expect Madrid to have to
follow Greece and Ireland in requiring a European Union
bailout. But the ratings agency wouldn't rule it out.
[]
The euro traded down 0.2 pct to 1.2810 Swiss francs, off
13.6 percent year-to-date <EURCHF=>. Against the greenback, the
euro dropped 0.29 percent to $1.3345 <EUR=>. Against major
currencies the U.S. dollar was up 0.43 percent <.DXY>.
U.S. economic data, including November industrial output
and consumer inflation and December New York-region
manufacturing, pointed to an accelerating pace of recovery. But
the stronger data did little to deter investors from buying
U.S. government debt where a recent selloff made yields more
attractive. []
"The CPI was friendly for bonds," said David Ader, senior
government bond strategist at CRT Capital Group in Stamford,
Connecticut, referring to the Consumer Price Index.
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasuries came off their highs for
the day but still traded up 17/32 of a point in price, pushing
the yield down to 3.42 percent. Buyers appeared as yields hit a
seven-month high of 3.50 percent <US10YT=RR>.
RELIEF IN U.S. STOCKS
U.S. stocks were bolstered by the upbeat economic data
putting Europe's debt woes in stark relief.
"We walked in this morning with a potential downgrade by
Moody's, which brought back the macro concerns, but what we are
seeing here is just an overall positive bias to stocks all the
way to the year end," said Kevin Kruszenski, head of listed
trading at KeyBanc Capital Markets in Cleveland.
In midmorning New York trading, the Dow Jones industrial
average <> rose 32.21 points, or 0.28 percent, to
11,508.75. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> gained 1.50
points, or 0.12 percent, to 1,243.09. The Nasdaq Composite
Index <> climbed 13.43 points, or 0.51 percent, to
2,641.15.
Swiss-based Novartis AG <NOVN.VX> <NVS.N> has wrapped up
its long-awaited buyout of the remainder of U.S.-listed Alcon
Inc <ACL.N> it didn't own. []
U.S-listed shares of Novartis rose 6 percent at $59.18, and
Alcon gained 1.8 percent to $165.32.
However, the Moody's report on Spain cramped the style of
European investors.
The FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top European shares
was down 0.29 percent at 1,129.14 in late trading. The index
was up over 6 percent in the 10 days leading into Wednesday's
announcement on Spain.
Spain's Banco Santander fell 0.188 percent <SAN.MC>.
Share prices in Japan slipped from Tuesday's seven-month
closing high. The benchmark Nikkei stock index fell 0.07
percent <>.
The price of crude oil rose after a government report
showed oil inventories fell much more than expected last week.
Crude for January delivery rose 19 cents a barrel to $88.47, up
0.22 percent on the day.
Spot gold prices fell $7.20 to $1388.60 <XAU=>.
(Additional reporting by Angela Moon, Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfus,
Ellen Freilich, Jeremy Gaunt, Blaise Robinson; Editing by
Kenneth Barry)
