Measured versus a basket of its peers, the U.S. dollar closed out the week by plunging to its lowest level in approximately two years on Friday, whilst WTI oil collapsed by circa 3%. With hurricane Irma approaching and a huge earthquake hitting Mexico, which fortunately took place a sufficient distance from Mexico City, avoiding the […]
In our industry it always pays to expect the unexpected and to be aware how fundamental news drives our FX markets. A perfect illustration of the phenomena of calendar news moving markets, came our way on Wednesday, as Canada’s central bank raised the interest rate by 0.25%, causing a spike in the value of the
There was a buildup of fevered speculation on Thursday, surrounding the ECB’s interest rate and asset purchase scheme announcement, with many analysts suggesting that Mario Draghi, the president of the ECB, would deliver a more hawkish message, by way of maintaining the current interest rate at 0.00%, but begin to immediately taper the amount of
Over recent days (and weeks), the financial news narrative has been dominated by a combination of the tropical storm Harvey, the impending storms of Katia, Jose and Irma and the continuous geo political tensions between the USA administration and North Korea. Therefore (in certain ways) it was refreshing that investor news on Wednesday was dominated
As widely forecast, Australia’s central bank (the RBA), kept its main interest rate at 1.5%, however, AUD/USD broke to the upside, breaching R2, as the decision was made public. The Aussie made moderate gains versus several peers during Tuesday’s trading sessions, not necessarily due to the announcement, or the statement accompanying the decision, moreover as
In a relatively quiet day for economic calendar news, the geo political tensions in relation to North Korea, once again dominated the mainstream media’s commentary and as a consequence the investor narrative throughout Monday’s trading sessions. The financial media also focused on the rogue regime’s latest (alleged) hydrogen bomb test, which caused a significant earthquake
On Tuesday morning at 04:30am (GMT) September 5th, a highly significant, economic calendar event takes place; Australia’s central bank the RBA (Reserve Bank of Australia), will be revealing its decision regarding its main interest rate, which is currently 1.5%. Several Australian based economists and analysts are calling for the rate to be lowered, suggesting various
Friday witnessed a shock NFP (Non Farm Payroll) result published by the BLS department in the USA; forecast at 180k jobs created in August, versus 189k in July, the actual number came in at 156k. Added to the spike in corporate job cuts – as evidenced by the recent Challenger corporate job cut numbers –
China posted encouraging economic calendar data on Thursday morning; their manufacturing PMI came in at 51.7, marginally beating the forecast of a drop to 51.3, from the 51.4 reading posted for July. Whilst only moderately above the 50 figure, which divides contraction from expansion, the figure delivered optimism that the Chinese economy has not discovered
