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Fed Reserve Hints Switch Focus

OptionsClick — Thu, 17 May 2012 07:51:27 +0000

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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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those of OptionsClick, blog.optionsclick.com, OptionsClick.com or any of its staff. The contents of this article are in no way intended to be advice or any other form of counsel for any trader of binary options or any other investor. Please be advised: Investing of any kind always carries a relative risk. As with any market trading, it is always possible to lose your investment. Always be sure to do your own research, seek professional advice, and make your own, well-educated decisions when it comes to financial investments.

Greek Impasse Sends Investors to USD

OptionsClick — Wed, 16 May 2012 07:14:23 +0000

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

OptionsClick — Tue, 15 May 2012 07:49:24 +0000

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.

MARKET CLICK – MONDAY, MAY 14 2012

OptionsClick — Mon, 14 May 2012 08:28:50 +0000

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LATEST TRADING HEADLINES

Asian markets and EUR weakened on continuing Greek crisis.

EUR slides, some believe in reaction to Presidential election results in France.

EUR/USD at 3 month lows amid concerns that Greece will leave Euro.

Oil drops amid Greece/EUR concerns.

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

HOW CAN I MAXIMIZE MY PROFIT THIS WEEK AT OPTIONSCLICK?

WHAT SHOULD I TRADE?

USD/EUR, JPY/EUR, OILWHAT ARE THE TRENDS?
DROPS FOR OIL, EUR/MAJOR CURRENCIESWHAT PLATFORM SHOULD I USE?
USE ONE TOUCH or RANGEPLATFORMS FOR BEST RESULTS THIS WEEK.WHAT ELSE SHOULD I KNOW?
PAY ATTENTION TO GREECE NEWS AND EUR NEWS. WITH EUR AT 3 MONTH LOWS, IT COULD RISE SLIGHTLY FOR BARGAIN BUYERS.

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

Greek Political Fears Dominate Markets

OptionsClick — Mon, 14 May 2012 08:04:51 +0000

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.

Greece Nears Euro Exit

OptionsClick — Sun, 13 May 2012 07:57:06 +0000

The heavily beleaguered Greece took a step closer to a devastating exit from the Eurozone as it’s leaders still struggle to form a government. For the first time, European central bankers have been openly discussing the possibility of Greece leaving the Euro.

Germany’s top banker, Jens Weidmann, said it was up to the Greeks to make a decision, but if they failed to keep to their bailout commitments, then Greece would receive no further aid. His Irish Republic counterpart Patrick Honohan, said a Greek departure from the Euro would be damaging but not essentially fatal to the single currency. Meanwhile, Per Jansson, deputy head of Sweden’s central bank, was quoted by Bloomberg on Friday as saying that central bankers across Europe had started to discuss the possible notion of a Greek exit from the 17 member stated eurozone and how the consequences shall be handled.

Greece is set to make a final attempt at forming a government today (Sunday) but if no new government is formed then a new election will be required, with opinion polls suggesting Syriza – a leftist, anti-bailout party – will gain the most. Syriza has run on out rightly rejecting the terms of the latest EC- EU-IMF bailout, which requires strict austerity measures in return for 130 billion euros worth of loans.

The events in Greece should be closely followed as they markets on edge and the events of which will have significant impact upon the markets when they open later tonight. Also to be followed is the stocks situation in the US – U.S. stocks finished mostly in negative territory at the end of the week, dropping on reports that JP Morgan lost $2 billion in a failed trading strategy The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.27% on Friday, the S&P 500 index was down 0.34% while the Nasdaq Composite index finished up 0.01%.

Euro Sell Off Takes Break

OptionsClick — Thu, 10 May 2012 07:48:18 +0000

Investor concerns over the Euro and the growing political debate in much maligned Greece were put to one side s investors took a break from the euro sell off of the last few days. Even though troubles appear to be mounting in Greece as 1 billion euros of bail out money is being held back by the eurozones rescue fund, investors halted the slide of the Euro in Asian trading. The 1 billion euros will be given to Greece later “depending on the financing needs of Greece”, the board of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) announced yesterday with Eurozone finance ministers meeting on Monday to consider whether or not to disburse the remaining 1 billion euros from a 4.2 billion rescue package.

Investor fears that the leftist Syriza party, which is attempting to piece together a government, will continue calling for the rejection of austerity measures s part of the terms and conditions of the bailout money and ultimately take the country towards a default and out of the Eurozone altogether. The EUR/USD was up 0.20%, still trading below the 1.300 barrier at 1.2953 whilst the EUR/JPY reached 103.28, increasing 0.31%, up from a low of 102.91 and from a high of 103.29.

Meanwhile, this morning in asian trading, it was announced by the worlds 2nd largest economy, China, that its export and import growth slowed down for the month of April, increasing fears of a sharp slowdown in its economy and sparking calls for easing of the monetary policy. Exports increased by 4.9% in April year on year, falling from the 8.9% annual growth witnessed in March, indicating that global demand may be slowing. At the same time, imports increased by just 0.3% year on year, falling sharply from the 5.3% in March, a sign of the fall in domestic demand.

Today is going to be a busy and volatile day when European markets open. Lots of mixed and important data released throughout the day so make sure you stick glued to the news and the charts.

Fears for Euro Mount

OptionsClick — Wed, 09 May 2012 06:21:58 +0000

Investor fears for the beleaguered Euro continued to mount in Asian trading this morning as the leader of Greece’s Syriza bloc announced the coalition he is trying to form to run the Greek government will be based on the tearing up of the terms and conditions of the bailout received from the IMF and EU. With just 3 days to reach a deal, the coalition seems to be based around the rejection of the budget cuts and austerity measures as part of the bail out deal. Greece received two trenches of bailout funds – totaling 240 billion euros, for which Greece agreed to make large cuts to pensions and the payroll, raise taxes and cut thousands of public sector jobs. The next tranche of funds is due in June, but this is under serious doubt.

The left wing coalition in Greece might not pose as big threat as the new socialist president of France – Francois Hollande, but it is in stark contrast to what was announced in Portugal yesterday. Having agreed a 78 billion euro bailout deal with the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund last year, Portugal declared that is scrapping 4 of its 14 national holidays as part of its austerity measures. Portugal has already slashed public sector wages and increase taxes in an attempt to cut its budget deficit and tackle its economic crisis. This, however, was not enough to allay investor concerns over the Euro, which saw the single currency hit new lows against the USD and GBP. German production data prevented the euro from falling too far with German industrial output jumping to 2.8% in March, much more than the expected the 0.8% increase, having declined 0.3% in February. At time of writing the EUR/USD was down 0.23% trading at 1.2976 having passed the big psychological 1.30 barrier.

Today, eyes will remain on Europe as Germany announces their trade balance at 7am GMT and 5 year debt auctions at 10.30am GMT. In commodities, US Crude Oil and Gasoline stock piles are declared at 3.30pm GMT.

Euro Hangover Subdues Markets

OptionsClick — Tue, 08 May 2012 06:25:39 +0000

The political elections in Europe that saw both Greek and French voters reject tougher austerity measures in favour of increased spending to boost growth has left the markets subdued with investors consolidating positions or tentatively investing in the USD, which in itself, is still suffering from the hangover of Fridays disappointing jobs data release. Indeed, the announcement of only 115,000 new jobs created in April and unemployment still above 8% in the US is the only reason why the USD hasn’t soared against the Euro. Despite opening slightly up in Asian trading, the EUR/USD was down 0.15%, trading at 1.3031 at time of writing (4.21am GMT) with the pair likely to test the support level of 1.2956 and the resistance level of May 4th’s 1.3178. The euro dropped as low as $1.295 in trading yesterday, its lowest since January, later, and fell to three year lows against the GBP.

Francois Hollande is the first socialist president in France since Francois Mitterand was elected in 1981. The political promises by Hollande – increase spending, reduce retirement age, increase the amount of teachers and cutting energy bills were very similar to Mitterand’s election promises. The result was the French Franc losing about half its value against the USD. As the economy of France makes up about 20% of the 17 member state Eurozone economy – there is the very real prospect that the already very brittle Euro could devalue by 20%. Also worrying investors is Hollande’s pledge for the ECB to buy government debt and ramp up deficit spending – the same program which put Europe in the mess it is currently in.

For the investors, Stocks have typically risen historically when there is more government spending, and this looks like being no exception. The DAX finished 0.12% higher yesterday at 6569.48 whilst Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.65%, valued at 9173.50 at time of writing.

Today, all eyes will be on ECB President Draghi speaking at 1.30pm GMT and then FOMC Fisher speaking at 4.45pm GMT. However, look for a bit of a boost to the EUR when Germany is expected to announce positive industrial figures at 11am GMT.

MARKET CLICK – MONDAY, MAY 7 2012

OptionsClick — Mon, 07 May 2012 12:12:36 +0000

LATEST PROMOTIONS

Every Monday we now give away $350 cash.
Deposit this week for up to 30% extra trading cash!
Contact your account manager today to qualify for FREE TRADES!

LATEST TRADING HEADLINES

Asian markets down on EU concerns. Same expected in EU markets as Sarcozy defeat implies austerity not working.

Euro slides, some believe in reaction to Presidential election results in France.

Oil trading lower and is expected to drop further and test $90/barrel.

GBP at 2.5 year high vs. major currencies on EU worries.

ASSET	CHANGE	LAST	TREND	PLATFORM
NIKKEI	- 261.11	9,119.14	DOWN	HIGH/LOW
S&P 500	- 22.47	1,369.10	UP	HIGH/LOW
NASDAQ	- 67.96	2,956.34	UP	HIGH/LOW
DOW	- 168.32	13,038.27	UP	HIGH/LOW
OIL	- 1.40	$97.09	DOWN	HIGH/LOW
GOLD	- 6.10	$1,639.10	UP	HIGH/LOW
EUR/USD	- 0.0019	1.3007	DOWN	HIGH/LOW
USD/JPY	+ 0.07	79.82	DOWN	ONE TOUCH
GOOG	- 14.05	596.97	UP	ONE TOUCH
AAPL	- 16.57	565.25	UP	HIGH/LOW

HOW CAN I MAXIMIZE MY PROFIT THIS WEEK AT OPTIONSCLICK?

WHAT SHOULD I TRADE?

USD/EUR, GBP/USD, GBP/EUR, OIL, US STOCKS AND INDICES.WHAT ARE THE TRENDS?
DROPS FOR OIL, DOWNWARD TREND FOR EU STOCKS AND INDICES.WHAT PLATFORM SHOULD I USE?
USE ONE TOUCH or RANGEPLATFORMS FOR BEST RESULTS THIS WEEK.WHAT ELSE SHOULD I KNOW?
PAY ATTENTION TO OIL, CURRENCIES AS IT REACTS TO GREECE AND FRANCE ELECTIONS.

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