The Kiwi reacted neutrally to the news that food prices in NZ had risen by 1.2% in January 2014. Fruit cost was up 7.4%. In other NZ news house sales have fallen, down 4.3% versus January 2013 and over 17% less than December 2013. Nationally house prices have fallen by 25K since December. In the
Retail sales fall in the USA whilst weekly unemployment claims edge up once again Read More »
Without a doubt Australia’s jobless rate rising to 6 percent last month, the highest level seen since July 2003, cased quite a stir in the markets. Employment unexpectedly shrank by 3,700. Economists polled by Bloomberg had forecast up to a 15,000 gain. Australia’s currency, in a correlated move, fell 0.9 percent to 89.42 U.S. cents.
It may surprise many traders to realise exactly what currencies are in the basket of currencies that make up the dollar index. Many of us will have made various assumptions as to what’s in and what’s not, so here’s the definitive definition and answer. The US Dollar Index (USDX) is an index (or measure) of
Wednesday was a very skittish and haphazard day with regards to policy decisions and high impact news events. The strangest story came by way of the ECB and the various mandarins and apparatchiks hovering at the heart of its mechanism. It was incredibly hard to keep track of the mutterings coming from so many directions.
A tale of two central banks’ indecision and flops Read More »
The UK’s conference board figure has decreased by 0.1%, after five months of increases, the LEI decreased slightly in December. A substantial decline in the Volume of Expected Output, coupled with softening consumer confidence and lower stock prices, was behind the decline in December, but these were offset by the interest rate spread and order
China’s trade balance improves markedly as USA lawmakers look to raise debt ceiling Read More »
Yesterday we began a two part article regarding the trading clichés that we’re bombarded with on a regular basis, through forums and blogs in particular. We concentrated on the clichés that we believe fail to stand up to rigorous scrutiny. In part two we’re now going to concentrate on the more positive clichés that manifest
Trading clichés, the worst, the best and those that are actually valid.Part Two Read More »
All things considered the new Federal Reserve chairperson Janet Yellen made a very impressive ‘debut’ on Tuesday, she quickly ‘moved through the gears’ covering many subjects expertly. A brief synopsis of her speech we’ve contained in our usual snippets sections below. However, what really caught our eye was her frank honesty that the unemployment situation
Investors and traders have experienced a quiet two news days overall this week with Australian data dominating the high impact news landscape. House prices in Australia rose by 3.4% in the quarter and by circa 9.3% overall throughout 2013. Sydney with a 13.8% annual rise took first place in what (on the face of it)
UK retail sales power ahead, up 3.9% in 2013 versus 2012 Read More »
As traders progress through the maze that is trading, eventually discovering the path leading to fulfilment and what we’re fond of terming a form of ‘trader enlightenment’, we come across many trading related clichés on our journey. Some clichés do have merit and some (quite frankly) are random clichés that have very little relevance to
Trading clichés, the worst, the best and those that are actually valid. Part I Read More »
The afternoon session in New York and London on Monday was both light on volatility and high impact news events. Canada’s annualised housing starts at approx. 195,000 units came in as analysts expected, thereafter a deputy governor of the Canadian central bank issued a decree that the banks aim was to keep inflation at circa
