Fed Reserve Hints Switch Focus

Posted on May 17, 2012 by OptionsClick

Investor focus shifted from the political turmoil in Greece and the Euro, to the US and hints by the Federal Reserve that policymakers were willing to stimulate the U.S. economy by way of monetary easing policies should the economic recovery falter. As Greece looks set to hold new elections on June 17 to put an end to the impasse amongst its political parties, the Fed’s language from the minutes published yesterday of its latest monetary policy meeting halted some of the investor movement towards the USD as a safe haven. Fears that Greece will exit the eurozone have fueled demand for the greenback which has made consistent gains against most major currencies all week. It has also seen Gold – the traditional hedge to the USD – make some heavy losses over the course of the trading. This was reversed as the USD fell with Gold up 0.66% at 1546.75 and Silver up 1.21% at 27.525. Stimulus measures generally weaken the dollar, and even talk that monetary policy authorities are considering them tends to send gold rising.

Meanwhile in Japan, the Japanese economy grew 1.0% in the first quarter of 2012 compared with the previous three months of 2011, as government spending helped fuel a measured recovery from last year’s devastating earthquake and tsunami. That translates to an annualised growth of 4.1% and analysts were still showing caution about the future, as growth had slowed in the US, Europe and China. The JPY was up a moderate 0.06% against the USD, trading at 80.29. The Nikkei 225 of Japan was up 0.47%, valued at 8842.50.

Today, early morning focus will be on Spain and the Euro as debt auctions are to be held by Spain at 9.30am GMT but then focus should switch to the USD and CAD as a raft of data is released including initial jobless claims in the US at 1.30pm GMT.

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Greek Impasse Sends Investors to USD

Posted on May 16, 2012 by OptionsClick

The political stalemate in Greece is still pushing investors to the safe haven greenback in Asian trading as the US Dollar index which measures the USD against a basket of 6 weighted currencies was up 0.14%, valued at 81.55. The USD was enjoying a good run, up against all major currencies at the time writing (4.55amGMT), most notably up 0.28% against its Australian cousin – the commodity linked AUD, now valued before the parity level at 0.9909 and up 0.25% against fellow safe haven currency – the JPY, trading at 80.39.

Yesterday was a mixed day for the Euro. The continuing failure of Greece to form a government that supports austerity reforms fueled global investor concerns that Greece would be forced to leave the 17 member state Eurozone and abandon the Euro. Positive economic data from Europe with GDP and economic sentiment published yesterday saw a spike in the Euro, but as talks continue without a resolution, investor concerns saw a fleeing of the Europe in Asian markets. – The EUR/USD was down 0.13%, trading at 1.2713 and focus will still be very much on Greece throughout the day.

In Japan, core machinery orders dropped 2.8% for March, a little less than the market expectations for a 3.5% drop, but still it was enough to spark selling in equities markets so far in Asian trading. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index plummeted 2.54%, Australia’s S&P/ASX200 dropped 1.96%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index declined 1.05%.

Expect some good volatility in the USD/JPY pairing today as the U.S. will release official data on building permits and housing starts later this afternoon, followed by Federal Reserve data on industrial production. Meanwhile in Japan, gross domestic product growth figures will be released. But again, keep an eye out on Greek events to move the markets.

Asian Stocks Down As Greece Problems Continue

Posted on May 15, 2012 by OptionsClick

The Asian markets provided no respite from the continuing fears that the failure of Greece to form a suitable government will do irreconcilable damage to the Euro. Eurozone leaders will get together in Brussels later today as the uncertainty in Europe, Greece and France, causing a massive fall in the global markets.

Although there was a little comfort for the Euro – up 0.08% against the USD at time of writing (4.06am GMT) after opening down in New York last night – stocks continued to fall in Asian trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index was down 1.2%, while South Korea’s Kospi was down 1.4%. The hardest hit were bank shares following on from Spain nationalizing one of their biggest banks, but the uncertainty over the Euro saw shares fall globally – The US benchmark Dow Jones index finished its session down 1%. London’s FTSE 100 share index and Germany’s Dax both dropped 2%.

Today (Tuesday) will be an important day for the markets with a raft of economic data being released, but investors will keep a keen eye on what is happening in Greece – failure to end the stalemate might force more elections in June, which might well increase the chances of Greece dumping austerity measures as set by the EU/ECB/IMF in exchange for bailout money and leave the currency zone altogether. There should be plenty of movement in the markets as preliminary gross domestic product growth figures are expected for the eurozone as a whole as well as for France, Germany and Italy. Also the ZEW Centre for Economic Research will release a report on German economic sentiment as well as for the entire eurozone.

Investors will look for signs of hope and signs of nails in coffins so with record lows in commodities and lows in riskier currencies and shares – the bottom feeders will be out in force if there is some positive data.

Greek Political Fears Dominate Markets

Posted on May 14, 2012 by OptionsClick

Early Asian trading has indicated that the fears over the political turmoil in Greece still reign supreme as the Dollar continues to find favour as the safe haven currency to go and the Euro continues to be sold.

It was announced in Greece yesterday that the leader of far-left party Syriza will not attend coalition talks today (Monday), pushing Greece into further political turmoil. The move takes much maligned Greece a step closer to elections – with polls now suggesting the anti-bailout party may win. President Karolos Papoulias had invited four parties, including Syriza, to further talks but Mr Tsipras, the leader of the far left, ruled out any deal with pro-bailout parties. Both the centre-right New Democracy and the socialist Pasok have been unable so far to form a new coalition government with both agreeing to wide ranging cuts in return for the last EU/IMF bailout, but both suffered in last week’s elections. Syriza, which finished 2nd in the polls, insists any new government must cancel austerity agreements in return for EU-IMF loans worth 130 billion euros .

The US Dollar index, which measures the USD against a basked of 6 weighted currencies was up at time of writing – gaining 0.17%, valuing the USD at 80.56. The AUD dropped against its U.S. cousin, briefly falling below parity for the first time since December 2011, as investors piled into greenbacks and select Asian equities, abandoning the AUD and the EUR in the process. In the EUR/USD pairing, the EUR was down 0.21%, trading at 1.2890, whilst the strengthened greenback meant a decline in the value of commodities. Gold was down 0.16%, trading at 1581.35 a troy ounce and Silver was down 0.39%, trading at 28.773.

This morning looks to be another busy day on the trading front with a raft of economic data coming from Europe including French, Spanish, German and Italian debt auctions. In particular keep an eye on the Italian 10 year debt auction for increased volatility in the markets.

ASSET	CHANGE	LAST	TREND	PLATFORM
NIKKEI	+ 26.80	8,980.11	UP	HIGH/LOW
S&P 500	- 4.60	1,353.39	UP	HIGH/LOW
NASDAQ	+ 0.18	2,933.82	UP	HIGH/LOW
DOW	- 34.44	12,820.60	UP	HIGH/LOW
OIL	- 0.48	$95.65	DOWN	HIGH/LOW
GOLD	- 3.10	$1,580.90	UP	HIGH/LOW
EUR/USD	+ 0.0004	1.2887	UP	HIGH/LOW
USD/JPY	+ 0.00	79.96	DOWN	ONE TOUCH
GOOG	- 8.43	605.23	UP	ONE TOUCH
AAPL	- 3.81	566.71	UP	HIGH/LOW

	Recent Popular Trends
	EUR/USD TOUCH
	GBP/JPY HIGH
	USD/EUR HIGH
	USD/JPY TOUCH

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Fed Reserve Hints Switch Focus

Greek Impasse Sends Investors to USD

Asian Stocks Down As Greece Problems Continue

Greek Political Fears Dominate Markets