Day Trading

As spread trading market emphasis shifts to US earnings, here are a few stats on the latest deterioration in the old continent; Spanish 10-yr yields +20% since LTRO-2 was announced on February 29 Italian 10-yr yields +8% since LTRO-2, and 19% since PSI deal on March 9 Greek 10-year yields +22% since PSI deal Portuguese 10-yr yields...
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Sterling did minutely better than the New Zealand dollar with GBP/NZD spread trading pair pushing higher to the tune of a single cent. Had it not been for a late rally by Sterling last Thursday and Friday (the reason for which is anything but obvious) the roles could have been reversed. The week’s two NZ...
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The euro rallied against the dollar and the yen in recent forex trading activity after budget cuts in Spain boosted hopes the country could stick to an austerity path, though mixed US data capped some gains. US data sent mixed signals and did little to push currencies out of recent ranges. The pace of...
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FOMC minutes out last night appeared to push a potential third phase of quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve to the back seat. This provided a somewhat contradictory and confusing scenario to that of which Bernanke, the Fed Chairman, has hinted to in the last few weeks. Whilst Bernanke continues to talk down the...
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Oil rose in recent day trading activity to post the biggest quarterly gain since the beginning of 2011 as the growing threat of a disruption of Iranian exports added to supply concerns. Oil markets, on edge about the potential loss of exports from Iran, briefly spiked in recent trading activity after the Obama administration...
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Stronger than expected US ISM manufacturing data was the catalyst to send the FTSE 100 higher in afternoon trading, helping the UK Index to gain over 1% led by higher demand for mining shares. It’s a new quarter and financial year today also, and this has likely played a role in investors adding stocks...
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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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