February 2019

Oil reaches a three month high as trade optimism returns, Asian markets are boosted as China-USA talks move to Washington

China’s currency, the yuan, rose in the Asian session trading, as both the USA and Chinese negotiators announced that the trade and tariff discussions which took place in Beijing last week, would now continue in Washington. Investors and FX strategists took this as a positive sign that President Trump may also become involved, in order […]

Oil reaches a three month high as trade optimism returns, Asian markets are boosted as China-USA talks move to Washington Read More »

Best time to trade in South Africa

The ongoing China-USA trade talks, Japan’s CPI, the FOMC minutes and a raft of PMIs relating to Europe, are the key high impact calendar events to monitor this week

USA equity markets finished with a flourish on Friday February 15th, the DJIA closed up 1.74% and the SPX up 1.09%. The implementation of a national emergency by Trump, to get funding for his Mexico border wall, was not enough to dent market confidence, as optimism developed in the New York trading session, that the

The ongoing China-USA trade talks, Japan’s CPI, the FOMC minutes and a raft of PMIs relating to Europe, are the key high impact calendar events to monitor this week Read More »

Global market sell off gathers steam as China-USA trade talks make little progress and Trump declares national emergency

In an act of pique, due to not receiving funding for the infamous Mexico-USA wall, Trump declared a state of national emergency on Thursday night. The practicalities, if the national emergency comes into force, are straightforward. His govt, his de facto executive, can then take control of national spending, in order to divert funds to

Global market sell off gathers steam as China-USA trade talks make little progress and Trump declares national emergency Read More »

Retail sales crash in the USA, whilst tariff talks with China fail to make breakthrough, causing USA equity indices to give up gains, during the New York session

The latest retail sales data for the USA economy missed the Reuters target by some distance when published. The forecast was for a drop to 0.1%, however, the actual print came in at -1.2% for December, month on month. Analysts and market commentators on channels such as Bloomberg, scrambled around for an explanation; stock market

Retail sales crash in the USA, whilst tariff talks with China fail to make breakthrough, causing USA equity indices to give up gains, during the New York session Read More »

The German economy avoids a technical recession, whilst China’s exports bounce back

Germany’s latest GDP figure for Q4 came in at 0.00%, ahead of the -0.2% recorded for Q3. Two quarters (in series) of negative readings is regarded as a recession. Therefore, Germany’s economy could currently be described as stagnant, despite YoY growth coming in at 0.9%. The reasons for the recent contraction in the economy include:

The German economy avoids a technical recession, whilst China’s exports bounce back Read More »

GBP/USD whipsaws in a wide range, due to Brexit and inflation data, CPI for the USA falls due to lower energy costs

On Wednesday morning, the U.K. statistics agency, the ONS, published its latest data series and snapshot, regarding inflation for the U.K. The headline CPI inflation surprised the economists polled by Reuters, coming in at -0.8% for the month of January. Whilst CPI annually fell to 1.8%, from the 2.1% figure recorded up to December 2018.

GBP/USD whipsaws in a wide range, due to Brexit and inflation data, CPI for the USA falls due to lower energy costs Read More »

Why traders should always diarise high impact calendar events, whatever time of the day they’re published

FX trading is a global 24/5 business, it hardly ever sleeps. From Sunday evening to Friday evening, the industry, in all its facets, turns over circa $5 trillion each trading day. The FX markets are moved primarily by breaking economic news and high impact calendar events. These events are listed on your economic calendar. All

Why traders should always diarise high impact calendar events, whatever time of the day they’re published Read More »

German and Eurozone GDP growth figures will be carefully scrutinised, for any evidence of further economic weakening

Thursday February 14th is a busy day for high impact calendar news. Crucial data concerning: the German economy, the Eurozone and the USA economy, will be released. This is data which has the power to move markets, particularly if the forecasts by various news agencies are missed, or beaten. The forecasts are obtained after the

German and Eurozone GDP growth figures will be carefully scrutinised, for any evidence of further economic weakening Read More »

Global equity markets continue the bullish momentum as trade optimism continues to build

Overnight and in the early morning Sydney and Asian trading sessions, many of the globe’s prominent equity markets continued the “risk on” rise, which has developed over recent sessions. President Trump intimated during a questions and answers session, as he held a cabinet meeting in the Whitehouse, that the date for a Chinese trade and

Global equity markets continue the bullish momentum as trade optimism continues to build Read More »

Risk appetite returns as USA indices recover their December loss, USD falls as dollar safe haven appeal recedes

December 2018 proved to be an unusual and rogue month for USA equity markets, traditionally the markets rally in late December, whilst delivering the infamous Santa rally. But 2018 was different; the key U.S. markets sold off, with the NASDAQ and SPX entering correction territory, defined as a market slumping 20% from its recent high.

Risk appetite returns as USA indices recover their December loss, USD falls as dollar safe haven appeal recedes Read More »