Yesterday we saw a bundle of news coming from Australia, where most traders were concentrating on the RBA and the decision regarding the cash rate. As the Reserve Bank of Australia decided to keep the rate unchanged at 1.50%, Aussie fell of daily high. In addition, the Australian retail sales rose less than expected, increasing […]
Growth in the UK service sector picked up pace and signaled the strongest rate of service sector output growth for four months, the latest report from Markit Economics showed yesterday. UK services PMI was up from 53.0 in January and better than forecasted (53.3) coming at 54.5. The business activity rose at the fastest pace
The Euro witnessed a mixed start to the week, initially having received a boost following the weekend’s German SPD’s vote in favor of the coalition deal. However, the upside was short-lived as sentiment soured on the Italian election’s projected outcome of a hung parliament, with both the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and the far-right League party
The UK Markit PMI for manufacturing held a pleasant surprise despite the fact that it did not rise, but it held better than expected (55.1) coming at 55.2 down from 55.3. Still, it is the third consecutive decline and compares with the 56.9 average in Q4 17 and 55.9 average for all last year. The
February 2018 has proven to be one of the most volatile and tumultuous months for equity markets, witnessed in many years. The month has closed out with the largest fall in the main equity markets (DJIA and SPX), seen in two years. The February fall for the DJIA is -4.28%, the SPX has registered a
The economic news calendar was dominated by American fundamentals on Tuesday with the calendar releases and political events. The recently appointed Fed chair Jerome Powell wasted no time, during his testimony in front of a House committee, when suggesting that both he and the Fed think asset prices may be too high and inflation may
U.S. equity markets and overall investor sentiment, appears to have discovered an equilibrium position. The subjects of inflation, bonds, market valuations, and the U.S. dollar value, are no longer the overall concerns that caused the sudden sell off, witnessed in late January early February. Sentiment appears to be back to 2017 bullish levels, an example
U.S. equity markets reversed their earlier weekly losses on Friday, with the SPX rising by 1.60% on the day, the rise has now placed the index back in positive territory for the year; YTD the rise was 2.79% at Friday’s close of business. Both the DJIA and NASDAQ have followed similar recovery patterns, however, the
Equity markets in the USA broke their two day losing streak on Thursday, as both the DJIA and SPX closed up, encouraging jobless claims. Falling to a five week low, and continuous claims also falling, added to the overall mood of investor optimism during the New York session. However, many analysts were quoting that institutional
The FOMC minutes, relating to the January 30th-31st meeting were released on Wednesday evening and they offered up very little in the way of clues, regarding the timing of interest rate rises in 2018. Instead the minutes accentuated the positives in the USA economy and with regards to any concerns over inflation building up, the
