Ratings of Spain and Cyprus drop

Moody’s has reduced the rating of Cyprus from Ba1 to Ba3 and Spain from A3 to Baa3. The Russian currency rate will most likely drop.

The rating of Cyprus is affected by Greece’s withdrawal from the euro zone. Spain needs €100 billion of EU support.

Joaquin Almunia, Vice President of the European Commission says Spain will stay in the euro zone. It has been a problem for 2 years, RBC reports.

Shane Oliver, chief strategist of AMP Capital Investors Ltd. says support for Spanish banks failed to improve the situation and provoked more attention to Italy.

The tranche of €1.4 billion of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Ireland does not seem sufficient.

OPEC causes increase of oil prices. July futures for WTI (Light Sweet Crude Oil) in New York increased by $0.34 (0.41%) to $82.96 per barrel. July futures for Brent increased by $0.54 (0.54%) to $97.67 per barrel. No increase of quotas for oil extraction of over 30 million barrels daily is expected. Michael McCarthy, chief market analyst of CMC Markets Asia Pacific Pty in Sydney says that OPEC is the main market driver.

US retail sales dropped by 0.2% in May. They increased by 0.1% in April. Reduction has been registered two months in a row for the first time since 2010. Manufacturing prices dropped by 1%, compared with April, and increased by 0.7% in annual accounts. Analysts expected a drop by 0.6% and a monthly increase by 1.3%, compared with April 2011.

Gold prices rise for the fourth session in a row. August futures for gold at Comex (New York) increased by 0.4% to $1619.4 per troy ounce.