Archive for October, 2010

One cent down, half a cent up, two cents down, one cent up; that was the pattern that hurt the pound over the last seven days. It opened in London two cents lower on the week. UK statistical releases were both sparse and unhelpful. The Confederation of British Industry said orders were down again in...
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Equity markets have pushed lower today led by the banking sector, despite Swiss bank UBS posting a better than expected SFr.1.66bn net profit. However, the profits were helped by exceptional items in the form of a SFr.825m tax credit which doubled the profit figure, while its investment banking division posted a loss in the...
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For all the nervousness about the weekend’s G20 meeting, nothing much of consequence really came out of it with the US dollar continuing to remain under pressure, and commodities resuming their upward trajectory. As expected, the finance ministers failed to come up with anything specific about dealing with the problems of the weakening dollar,...
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A day of little action yesterday with attention focused on the G20 meeting in South Korea. The Dollar did soften during the European trading day, but not on anything tangible – more on speculation of an impasse on the G20 discussions rather than fundamentals or economic news. Sterling did not fare well however with...
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Friday’s sharp rally in the single currency and late slump below 1.4000 following Bernanke’s comments highlighted a number of factors surrounding the current round of US dollar weakness, not least the market’s desire to push the US dollar lower. However, given the fact that since the beginning of September the US dollar has declined around...
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European equity markets had been pretty range bound in the morning session today after yesterday’s sell-off. However the afternoon session has had a slightly more positive bias on the back of slightly better earnings announcements out of the US. This morning’s minutes of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee unsurprisingly saw Adam Posen vote...
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UK markets had been trading fairly listlessly this morning with investors sitting on the sidelines ahead of a number of key policymaker speeches today. The tech sector had taken centre stage in the morning session with ARM Holdings, a key supplier for Apple, sliding back after the market’s reaction to Apple’s analyst busting figures...
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For the last six weeks, the day trading markets have seen the US dollar slide lower relentlessly on speculation that the Federal Reserve will embark on a further stimulus program to shore up the flagging US economy. Bernanke’s comments on Friday more or less confirmed the inevitability of such a move. Despite this, the US...
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Jobs disappear in the US for a fourth month. In spread trading sterling collected nearly a cent and a half against the dollar over the course of the week. On the way it touched an eight-month high but there was no enthusiasm to carry it further and it opened in London this morning more than...
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Day Trading – JPY Bank of Japan cuts rates and prints money. In spread trading, a three-yen range contained sterling throughout the week. With a net loss of just over one yen the pound started in London this morning just into the lower half of the 11-yen range that has held it for the...
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