Morning Roll Call

Reserve Bank of Australia: gradual approach to policy with a hint of uncertainty; Bank of England expected to hike rates just once in 2018

Yesterday, the day started with the Australia’s Reserve Bank Board Minutes, which contained few surprises. According to the Research Analyst of Westpac, Bill Evans, the comments regarding the labor market was a bit more reserved than what was observed in the previous minutes. Regarding the growth outlook, in the past the Bank has on record […]

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US in No Hurry to Cap the Price of Russian Oil

U.S. – Russia ‘war of words’ influencing the market sentiment, while U.S. – China trade conflict may see further escalation

Traders will be keeping a close eye on the geopolitics and the trade talks, as further developments will more than likely have a high impact on the markets. After the US President, Donald Trump had tweeted on Saturday, praising the US-led intervention in Syria as ‘perfectly executed’ and ‘missing accomplished’, Russia did not stand silent

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The US airstrike on Syria may lead to destabilization of global talks

The week started on a quieter tone than expected, taking into consideration the weekend’s US-led airstrikes on the Syrian chemical weapons facilities. The Russian President reacted on the attack with a statement that any further strikes will lead to further destabilization of global talks. This news of course boosted the market sentiment, as investors are

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Investors are focusing on the tensions around the Syria strike; weak EU industrial production data is seen to impact growth

After the tweet that was sent yesterday by US President Trump, vowing to impede the missile system in Syria that Russia has in place, the tension and fear of ‘cold war’ now between the US and Russia have escalated. On this note, Trump caught most of his aides’ off-guard on Wednesday by his tweet that

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Sterling seen as one of the best performing currencies this year, while US dollar weakens amid the fear of trade wars

With gains of more than 5% against the US dollar, GBP has been one of the best performing this year. After the Brexit-referendum vote, sterling has been trading round 1.4346 in late January and currently it is trading around 1.4200. Further encouragement has been provided by the expectations of BoE raising the interest rates in

Sterling seen as one of the best performing currencies this year, while US dollar weakens amid the fear of trade wars Read More »

The ECB top officials to move slowly towards paring back stimulus, Draghi’s speech on tap

As several reports have pointed out the weak start of the year, there has been cautious confidence expressed by the ECB top officials. On Monday we have witnessed signals from President Mario Draghi and his senior colleagues regarding the inflation and its low levels, as well as the new threat of the global trade row.

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China-US trade war topic still in the agenda; US PPI will be closely watched today

According to the Chinese President, Xi, a dialogue between the two parties would be the best way to resolve the ongoing disputes. He strongly believes that ‘cold war’ is out of place and opening pup can lead towards progress. While speaking at the Boao Forum, President Xi has expressed a soft stance on the trade

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Global risk perception improves, however market participants need to be alert of the risk of trade war coming from the US

The market perception of risk across countries has improved over the past year, according to Philippe Dauba-Paanacce, Senior Economist at Standard Chartered. The improvement reflects ‘market-friendly’ outcomes of disruptive elections that were seen as potentially disruptive, along with improving global growth. The analysis conducted on 5Y CDS (relative 5Y CDS spread movements provide a gauge

Global risk perception improves, however market participants need to be alert of the risk of trade war coming from the US Read More »

Another Non-Farm Payrolls Friday looms ahead following Easter weekend

Forex yesterday was driven by holiday-thinned trades, hence a typical holiday-quiet Asian session was witnessed and left most majors at the mercy of the risk trends and irregular volatility. On the macroeconomic data front, downbeat Japanese Tankan manufacturing and non-manufacturing surveys added to the weight of Yen, while an unexpected drop in Chinese Caixin manufacturing

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US data to continue to point to a strong economy; next phase of Italian politics is approaching

This week’s US data is expected to continue pointing towards a strong economic picture according to analysts at Nomura. Regarding the nonfarm payrolls (NFP), Nomura analysts are looking for a 115k gain on the heels of a weather-related 313k surge in February. Despite the low March forecast, the expected monthly NFP gains may reach an

US data to continue to point to a strong economy; next phase of Italian politics is approaching Read More »