Archive for October, 2011

The sentiment in the forex spread trading markets shifted again over the weekend as China commented on the Eurozone’s planned bailout package. China, which has taken even more focus lately as European leaders look towards the Eastern powerhouse to invest billions more into Europe to prop up the ailing economies and banks, have yet...
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The Australian dollar took fourth place in the hierarchy of major currencies but was only a little down from the top three; the franc, the yen and the pound. While spread trading investors were not afraid of the antipodean commodity dollars, neither were they eager to stock up with them while the Euroland debt...
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What a day! Risk was forcibly thrown on the table as indices spread trading markets interpreted what most had seen as just bare bones of a European rescue plan as reason to be cheerful,as risk assets surged throughout the European session and overnight. Leading the way was the Euro, up two cents against the...
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Pressure was mounting on Silvio Berlusconi‘s coalition government after it failed to agree on tough new EU measures aimed at reassuring the markets that Italy’s sovereign debt is on a sustainable path. The measures include forcing the Italians to lift the pension age to 67, something that the coalition views as untouchable. The news comes...
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Euro-zone politicians already had a lot on their plate this week. Bank recapitalisations look set to happen, albeit on the lower end of the scale, but both the enlargement of the bail-out fund and the size of Greek haircuts both need to be agreed by tomorrow. Large problems to overcome by themselves, but made...
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European leaders did manage to agree on a much needed bank recapitalisation package worth €108bn over the weekend, aimed at restoring confidence on battered European lenders, but there is still no agreement on how to expand the firepower of the EFSF. Wednesday’s deadline is approaching rapidly, so German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President...
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It was another week on the back foot for the US dollar spreads and the Japanese yen. Heartened by the anticipation that EU leaders were gearing up actually to do something about their debt crisis, investors continued to shun safe-haven and low-yield currencies to chase potentially higher returns elsewhere. A thin scattering of US economic...
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The US dollar’s success or failure in the forex spreads continues to rely more on overall sentiment towards the global economy than on specifically good or bad news about what is going on in America. A case in point was Friday’s employment report. Instead of the expected increase of roughly 60k in non-farm payrolls,...
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The G20 finance ministers start a two day meeting today and the main point on the agenda is to tackle Europe’s debt woes. The Euro has pushed higher on the expectation that the meeting will help boost the IMF’s lending resources. Yesterday the Euro slipped back into risk off mode as equities slumped and...
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QE3 is still on the table according to the Federal Reserve minutes released last night, with two on the ten strong FOMC committee suggesting the current US economic outlook could justify stronger policy action. Operation twist is aimed at keeping down long-term interest rates by selling shorter term notes to buy longer dated maturities,...
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