Fundamental Analysis

By Pedro Nicolaci da Costa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve looks set to embark on a hotly debated second round of monetary easing next week, but much uncertainty surrounds the scope and pace of bond purchases by the U.S. central bank. Market expectations have centered around an initial commitment to buy at least $500 billion in Treasury debt over five months in an effort to spur lending and support an economic recovery that is too weak to tame high unemployment. Further muddying the outlook, Fed officials have offered conflicting signals on their policy predilections in recent weeks, with some pushing for a very aggressive stimulus and others highly skeptical of any additional accommodation. This makes it harder to gauge where the ultimate consensus will settle, though most analysts assume Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's dovish leanings will carry the day. Here are some ways in which next week's decision might play out: $500 BILLION OVER FIVE MONTHS, HINTS OF MORE This is the base-case scenario for financial...

Deutsche Bank AG reported losses during the past three months due to the increase in write-down of values acquired in Deutsche Postbank AG. Losses in the third quarter mounted to €1.21 billion, compared with a net profit of €1.38 billion a year earlier. Analysts expected a net loss of €1.52 billion. The bank had previously stated that it will post huge losses due to €2.3 billion cover charges related to Deutsche Postbank AG. Third quarter sales and trading revenues reached €2.9 billion, compared with the previous €3.0 billion that was reported a year earlier. Deutsche Bank share (NYSE: DB) rose in trading by 0.07 percent to trade at $57.49 a share.