Archive for March, 2012

The Australian dollar would have been the week’s worst-performing major currency had the South African rand not pipped it at the post. It was no coincidence that the four laggards in the weekly league represented commodity-exporting countries. Economic data from China and Euroland gave rise to new worries among spread trading investors that global growth might...
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The UK spread trading market has recovered initial losses to post slight gains after taking the lead from overnight losses in the Asian markets. The poor performance overnight stemmed from a slide in commodity prices with both copper and crude oil going lower over ongoing concerns over a slowdown in Chinese growth. French yearly...
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The bulls are back on centre stage as Bernanke restores some confidence in the markets as speculation over further QE could be on the cards for the United States if growth and unemployment do not improve. Although the global growth story is still a concern, the fact that the FED is perceived to be...
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Bernanke does it again… In forex spread trading, EUR/USD leapt by 100 pts (1 cent) in less than 20 minutes after Bernanke’s dovish comments. The Fed Chairman dragged down the greenback and boosted metals in another dovish speech indicating: “we cannot yet be sure that the recent pace of improvement in the labour market will...
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Sterling outperformed the NZ dollar over the seven days but only by examining the difference closely was it possible to notice. The two currencies led the rest of the field, with the Aussie in third place and the US dollar not too far behind it. It was not an exciting week last week. With the...
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Financial Spreads, has launched a new limited risk spread trading account. The new account is designed to help investors by placing a Guaranteed Stop Order on every new position. A Guaranteed Stop Order puts an absolute limit on how much an investor can lose on a trade without putting a limit on the potential profit. According...
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Today’s budget re-affirmed the balance the coalition government is attempting to strike between growth and austerity, whilst not delivering anything dramatic, largely in part to the widespread leak of many of the new measures announced. No significant surprises This budget felt much like reading a novel and then seeing the movie; there was no shock,...
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Investors turned to profit taking and diversifying their risk after European Indices such as the DAX hit a 7 month high at the end of last week and the FTSE failed to rally above the 6000 level. The risk-off mode of index spread trading investors has forced Indices lower by a heavy 1% on...
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With the economic docket on the light side today and with declining trade volumes, European markets have edged back having hit 8 month highs last week. Tullow Oil has retreated almost 1% on the back of a downgrade by HSBC. While on the flip side, mining giant Antofagasta is in the green as Nomura...
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Both the fundamental and technical dynamics for bond yields remain favourable into the end of Q2. Here is a perspective on the interrelationship involving bond yields, inflation rates, and consumer confidence, with the major conclusions below: Since 2007, consumer sentiment topped out before the peak in gasoline and crude prices. The breakeven inflation index (difference...
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