There was mixed data coming out of the USA on Thursday, however, the main indices brushed off any lingering doubts regarding the Ukraine/Crimea crises and any negative readings emanating from any USA publishers to close up on the day. Existing home sales came in below expectations at an annualised rate of 4.60 million for February. […]
The USA central bank announced on Wednesday that it was lowering its monthly bond purchases under its quantitative-easing stimulus strategy from $85 billion last year, citing improvements in the job market and economy. The Fed has undertaken three rounds of bond buying since 2008, swelling its balance sheet to a record $4.2 trillion. Federal Reserve
FOMC tapers quantitative easing stimulus and hints at rate rises in 2015 Read More »
Germany’s confidence has apparently been hit by the Crimea crisis according to the latest ZEW reading which fell by a highly significant 9.1 points to 46.6. As to whether or not this is a convenient excuse will not become apparent until the next reading is taken. The USA published its latest inflation figures on Tuesday
Inflation in the EU has fallen to what many analysts and policy makers are fearing could be “dangerous” deflationary levels. The inflation rate has fallen by 1.1% in the year to date to reach 0.8%. This level could cause policy makers in the ECB to consider using one of two tools they have in their
In many ways the markets were delivered some positive data on Thursday; USA unemployment claims fell by 9000 week on week, with the four week moving average decreasing by over 6000. Retail sales in the USA also came in ahead of expectations as the reading rose for the first time in over three months. Also,
Many analysts predicted that the RBNZ would raise the base rate by 0.25% when they met this Wednesday evening, the impact on the kiwi was immediate and now swing (and or position) traders will await to see if the rate rise will propel the kiwi to greater heights, or if the rise has already been
From the USA the number of job openings referred to as jolts came in in line with expectations at 4 million on Tuesday according to the latest data from the USA BLS department. This encouraging news was also supported by wholesale inventories in the USA which grew by 0.4% in the month of January, versus
Initially, shortly after the opening bell on Monday, the USA indices suffered a rapid sell off as investors digested the news that Chinese exports had fallen spectacularly – by 18.1% according to the latest reading from the official Chinese stats body. However, in a relatively slow news day the indices recovered somewhat with the DJIA
Markets sell off moderately then recover as yen rises versus all of its major peers Read More »
As investors and FX speculators eagerly await the publication of the NFP jobs print on Friday they will have been encouraged by the two publications printed on Thursday. Firstly the weekly unemployment claims fell to 323K for the week and the rolling monthly figure came in down 2000. Similarly the Challenger jobs print, which lists
After the relief rally of yesterday as the SPX reached a record high, due to a climb down and non-escalation of the Ukraine crisis, the main indices in the USA suffered a fairly neutral day on Wednesday with both main indices drifting slightly lower. The poor jobs print from ADP, with the previous month’s number
