The Bank of Japan (BoJ) as expected left its leading O/N target rate unchanged at 0.3% in a unanimous decision by its board members. In its statement the BoJ said that the economy has been increasingly sluggish. In addition it stressed the increasing downside risk due to both bleak outlook for he global economy and financial conditions in general. On the other hand, the BoJ believes that upside risk on prices has decreased.
Market Brief The Usd was mixed in the Asian Session, as equities rallied and risk appetite increased. Markets are watching the potential divergence between Usd and stock markets. Yesterday, the S&P fell by more than 6%, while the EurUsd gained, just adding support to the divergence theory. For the last 4 months, the tight correlation has had significant effect on traders positioning and, should decoupling continue, it will leave markets without a perceived critical driver. In Asia, the
Headlines Currencies: CE forex markets calmer now. How long will it last? Fixed Income: CNB extends liquidity-providing repo operations to 3 months Currencies The Polish PM came short of back stepping from previously made declarations regarding the 2012 euro adoption date yesterday. Donald Tusk indicated that he was open for discussion (with the opposition) on the precise timeline, but reiterated that Jan 1 st. 2012 remained a fully realistic target. The meeting with the MPC and NBP board
Markets: Fixed Income On Thursday, global bonds rallied hugely, as a sense of end of capitalism, as we know it now, kept markets in their grip and investors scrambled for safe haven government bonds. The economy falling of a cliff is of course feeding back into the already heavily battered financial sector, while the re-orientation of TARP, away from buying toxic assets, is deteriorating the situation in the credit markets. Movements in bonds were extreme and resulted in the US in yield
In the week ended November 15, initial claims rose 27 000 from a downwardly revised 515 000 to 542 000, while the consensus was looking for a slight drop (505 000). Continuing claims, reported with a one-week lag, rose 109 000 from 3 903 000 to 4 012 000, which is significantly above the consensus estimate of 3 900 000 and is the highest level since December 1982. While the data might be distorted due to Veteran’s day and seasonal adjustment problems, these figures suggest that conditions in
Previous session overview On Thursday, the dollar hit a 17-month high against the Swiss franc and approached a six-year high against the U.K. pound as fearful investors bought greenbacks as a refuge investment. The yen was the other big gainer Thursday as risk aversion led investors to sell higher-yielding currencies and buy back the low-yielding Japanese currency they had used to fund those bets. The euro initially strengthened against the dollar, but failed to hold on to its gains as traders
London, 21 November 2008 - Gold finished some 1.6% higher Thursday as the metal benefited from the return of safe-haven investment demand, however equity routs globally weighed on the more industrial metals with silver and platinum dipping to their lowest since the end of October while copper lost almost 3%. Rebounds have been seen this morning though as Asian equities bounced with the Nikkei currently up 2.7%. The dollar meanwhile posted a flat day with EUR/USD trading 1.2471-2592 while the
We had been selling our research for many years before the year 2000, but after writing about the financial mania of the late 1990s, we felt that we were saying the same thing in every research report we wrote. "The savings rate was collapsing, debt was rising at an unprecedented rate (at every level), and the stock market rose to alarming valuation levels that could not possibly be sustained." Attached, we show a Ned Davis chart depicting the debt to GDP relationship over the past 6 decades,
News and views Last night’s market action was highly significant, and takes us into new trading territory. The catalyst, as has been the case for the past few months, was global equity market selling, with the Dow falling below the important 8000 level. Should that index close weakly in a few hours time, we become even more confident that currency and risky asset prices will move to a much lower trading range. Overnight news was overwhelmingly bearish: the Fed’s vice chairman says the risk of
Oil below 49 USD BoJ kept rates unchanged at 0,30 % Nikkei turned around to positive, at the end Today’s main events: DEM: PMI EUR: PMI EUR: Gonzalez-Paramo & Nowoltny speaks USD: Lacker, Evans & Plosser speaks American Time Zone: U.S. stocks fell U.S. stocks fell U.S. stocks slid and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index plunged to its lowest level in 11 years after economic reports depicted a deepening recession and lawmakers postponed a vote on a plan to salvage the auto industry. The
The US dollar lost ground against its Japanese counterpart but managed to strengthen against its European counterpart as the euro fell below the key psychological level of $1.25. The move came despite the release of jobless benefits rising to 542,000 last week and with the November Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index coming in at -39.3 from -37.5 in October. With Fears of a global recession now deeply entrenched in investors minds, concern is starting to grow over potential corporate
Demand for US dollars remains high as investors seek out “safe haven” assets amidst increasing volatility. US Dollar Testing More Bullish Waters, US Jobless Claims, Philly Fed Disappoints as Usual Indeed, the trade-weighted US dollar index (DXY) closed above key resistance at 88 for the first time since 2006. While it would take a rally above the October 24 and November 7 highs of 88.79-88.91 to say we have a true breakout, it may only be a matter of time as the CBOE’s VIX volatility index
EURO The euro moved higher vis-à-vis the U.S. dollar today as the single currency tested offers around the US$ 1.2585 level and was supported around the $1.2470 level. The common currency gained ground on a variety of factors. First, weekly U.S. initial jobless claims surged to their highest level in nearly sixteen years, up 27,000 to 542,000 while continuing jobless claims were at 4.012 million, the highest level since December 1982. These data suggest November non-farm payrolls
- The unremitting, disheartening economic news hammered US equity markets in the early going. The DJIA, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all traded at fresh multi-year lows. Indices are well off their worst levels and seen green, but around 10am the S&P 500 was 50% below its high in October, 2007, while the Nasdaq and DJIA were hitting levels last seen in early 2003. The latest bout of risk aversion was inspired by a toxic combination of deflation fears, Congressional inaction on the auto industry
Forex traders, join the daily All Things Forex broadcast- a live one hour program covering Forex and major economic events, trend developments, research, analysis, ideas, education, live traders forum, interviews with some of the most respected names in the trading world, and much more.. In the broadcast today: The AUD- a "value trap" or an opportunity? We analyze recent trend developments, we discuss the new FX Options Trade Alert from Trading Central, and prepare for the trading session
Tis the season for walking it a winter wonderland as Jack Frost nips at your nose or other extremities but really what is the first true sign that winter is here? Is frost on your window pane? Perhaps that first snow flake. Nah. It's really the first withdrawal in natural gas storage silly. I mean winter has not really begun until we start cutting into that storage supply. Now I know my readers love when I talk crude oil and we will get to that (be patient). But sometimes we have to touch on
The Rupee pared most of its losses, ending weaker, on heavy intervention by RBI. The USD/INR pair ended at 50.19 from 50.01 yesterday. The 6-month and 1-year forward premium was at 2.45% and 1.74% as compared at 2.48% and 1.80% yesterday. The Swiss franc fell to its lowest levels against the Dollar since August 2007, after a surprise 100 bps rate cut by SNB. EUR/USD was at 1.253 from 1.2633 yesterday and GBP/USD was at 1.4843 from 1.4961 yesterday. USD/JPY was at 95.64 versus 96.74
Every single day we have more reason to believe that the US unemployment rate will break 8 percent next year. Jobless claims rose to a 16 year high last week of 542k, driving the US dollar lower against the Japanese Yen. Continuing claims rose to 4.012 million, the highest level in close to 26 years. The most powerful aspect of today's report is the fact that the Veteran's Day Holiday usually pushes jobless claims down which suggests that if there wasn't a holiday, jobless claims could easily
What a day turned out to be yesterday, with markets taking a slump in New York and DOW JONES ending the day 400 points lower printing new multi year lows. Asian markets continued in the same manner and the same thing happened in European session. It is clear that traders continue to worry about the worsening global economic conditions and at the end whatever happens, risk aversion always wins! EUR/USD made an impressive turn too yesterday, after it hit intra day high at 1.2820. The move did
The United States is facing one of the most complicated moments in its history. The country is suffering a deep real estate recession that looks like becoming one of the worst ever experienced. Closely linked to this, a financial crisis has broken out that puts the survival of the existing financial system in doubt. On top of all this, the prospects of a recession are getting stronger and stronger. In the face of this situation, the whole world is becoming worried. The old saying that when the
Fundamental 
