We’ve become accustomed to many new buzz words and phrases since the various credit crises developed back in 2007/2008: TARP, asset purchase, credit crunch, ZIRP (zero interest rate policy), NIRP (negative interest rate policy), taper, taper twist, helicopter money etc. And how could we ignore the most infamous nuspeak of “Q.E.” (Quantitative easing). Well now […]
Last week was a (relatively) quiet week for: economic calendar news and events, market moving Trump tweets, whilst the narrative causing tensions with North Korea, also appeared to recede. Perhaps it was that stability and a return to a focus on key data, which created an environment and the underpinning sentiment, allowing fundamentals to determine
Not only did the pound surge versus its peers earlier in the week, after CPI inflation reached 2.9%, when the latest inflation figures were released on Tuesday, sparking rumours that the BoE might raise rates on Thursday, sterling then spiked when the “no change” base rate announcement was actually made. It surged as a result
In a relatively quiet day, for medium to high economic calendar events published in the USA, Wednesday saw the USA monthly budget statement come in beating the forecast at -$107b for August, still significantly ahead of the -$42.9 recorded for July, but the result was not as bad as many analysts had feared, who had
The major currency talking point during Tuesday’s trading sessions, concerned the soaring rise of the UK’s pound, versus its peers. U.K. CPI inflation came in at 2.9% YoY for August, missing the forecast and increasing from the 2.6% recorded in July. The MoM rise was 0.6%, soaring from the -0.1% recorded in July. As a
Global equities enjoyed a relief rally on Monday with certain global indices reaching record highs. Hurricane Irma avoided Miami, whilst the potential catastrophic damage, which some mainstream media commentators were terming “Irmageddon”, failed to materialise to its full predicted extent, as the eye of the storm and the projected direction, was nudged off course. The
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
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
