FOREXLEARNING

Clouds and Silver Linings: The UK Economy »

As we highlighted in our ‘Sterling Update’ yesterday there was a good bit of GBP news yesterday which pushed GBPUSD and GBPEUR up to its recent highs.
The newly-formed Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) released their preliminary assessment of the UK economy and while the figures are still poor, there were some silver linings to [...]

Risk Appetite Continues to Start Week »

“Risk-on” trades extended the rally seen throughout last week with the Euro rallying above an important level of resistance at 1.2150. The Euro was boosted by stronger-than-expected industrial production data for the month of April in which output rose 0.8% on the month and climbed 9.5% compared to the same month last year. Forecasts were [...]

Monetary Change We Can Believe in? »

Key News

EU Bailout Spurs Moral-Hazard Fears (Wall Street Journal)
ECB Debt-Buying Sets a Precedent The European Central Bank’s decision to purchase the debt of some euro-zone governments, just days after appearing to reject the idea, raises new risks to its independence and its reputation. (Wall Street Journal)

Quotable “In central banking as in diplomacy, style, conservative tailoring, [...]

US trade defi cit widens from $39.4bn to $40.4bn in March »

News and views
US equities gained and treasury yields gained, but currency and commodity markets wee mixed. The modest lift in optimism seems to have been inspired by Spain’s announcement of spending cuts worth €15bn, with Portugal expected to follow with their own new targets in the next few days. Also comforting was Portugal’s ability to [...]

Key Data Points to a Soft Australian Payroll Number »

Earlier this month the RBA raised the Cash Rate for the 6th time out of the previous 7 meetings, pushing the rate to 4.50%, a 4.25% differential between themselves and the FED Fund Rate. This was widely anticipated by market participants as the Consumer Price Index, Producer Price Index and MI inflation all showed positive [...]

Euro debt crisis watch »

The EU, IMF and ECB relief measures has helped calm fears, but worries remain abundant. The crisis seems to have been “downgraded” from a full-blown global crisis to a more local European crisis. Pressure on the financial system in Euroland remains. Banks in Southern Europe are still having a hard time and the FRA/OIS spreads [...]

Trade Gap Widens in the U.K. on Rapid Rise in Imports »

After the economic recession affected the British economy severely since its start in 2008 causing company’s overseas sales to tumble, thereby resulting in a huge trade deficit, the trade gap widened in March despite recovery in global demand as the rebound in exports was offset by the rise in imports.
In February the trade gap narrowed [...]

European Markets Snap 3-Day Loss- Euro Strengthens »

4/29/2010 05:30 am: EUR/$..1.3236 $/JPY..93.96 GBP/$..1.5220 $/CHF..1.0835 AUD/$..0.9264 $/CAD..1.0058
European Markets Snap 3-Day Loss- Euro Strengthens
Asia Pacific markets were mostly weaker across the board with Japan’s Nekkei 225 closed for holiday. US equities rebounded yesterday from the losses sustained on news of downgrades in sovereign credit ratings around Europe. Modest gains came on the heels of [...]

Options on Halliburton get messy »

HAL – Halliburton Co. – Making sense of options activity on oil company, Halliburton Co., this afternoon is difficult due to the chaotic and seemingly pattern-less trading taking place on the stock. Investors exchanged more than 200,000 contracts on HAL by 3:00 pm (ET), which represents approximately 37% of total existing open interest on the [...]

CE currencies rebound as pressure on Greece eases »

Headlines
Currencies: CE currencies rebound as pressure on Greece eases

Czech Republic
The Czech koruna firmed slightly as pressure on Greece (and Portugal) eased finally yesterday. The mildly positive price action for the koruna was primarily a result of foreign events, rather than the fact that the Czech MinFin upgraded its forecast for the growth of the Czech [...]