24 May: A big day out! Yen, Chf strength; US$, Aud, Kiwi weakness the main early themes before a rebound.

23 May: Bernanke’s testimony rallies the dollar, puts the skids under equities.

22 May: All on hold now, awaiting Bernanke/FOMC. Before then the BOJ meeting will be the focus.

Are We at the Long-Awaited Shift in Risk?

All the hallmarks of a souring of risk appetite popped up last week: a drop from equities, yen crosses easing, dollar advancing, volatility on the rise... Yet we have been here many times before were the specter of fear simply evaporates. Will the market lose its faith in stimulus and...

Dollar Rally Stalls as Traders Await S&P 500’s Fate to Commit

It was a tense way to end the week. The S&P 500 – the benchmark for speculative appetites – tempered a third consecutive daily drop from record highs, while the Dow Jones FXCM Dollar Index (ticker = USDollar) failed to overtake 10,800. One of these two is likely to find...

Sterling Stumbles as Disinflation Accelerates; Light Week Ahead

The British Pound was one of the worst performing currencies this past week, barely outpacing the Australian and Canadian Dollars, by +0.53% and +0.08%, respectively.

Dollar firmer after durable goods data

Dollar firmer after US Durable Goods rise 3.3%, ex-Transport up 1.3%. GBPUSD at lows of Europe session at 1.5085, EURUSD 1.2925, USDJPY 101.55.

German data proving euro a lift

German IFO data better than expected and proving a modest lift for the single currency. The headline index rose to 105.7, from 104.4, with the increase solely owing to a rise in manufacturers assessment of current conditions, rather than expectations ahead. This could offer some further hope that German...

Dollar weaker post Bernanke

The dollar weaker on the back of the headlines ahead of US Fed Chairman Bernanke's testimony today. The one that weakened the dollar was the reference to a premature tightening of rates. He said " A premature tightening of monetary policy could lead interest rates to rise temporarily but would...

Market Review: Persisting fears about Fed tapering QE

European markets closed in the red while US markets are trading lower, adding to yesterday’s losses, as investors remained cautious amid continued speculation that the US Federal Reserve would scale back its bond buying programme.

Trade Idea: Buy Facebook on rejection of March low

Facebook (FB) has been under pressure since it peaked at 29.07 in early May. It closed yesterday at 25.06 rejecting the important March 27 low at 24.72. Based on this and the company's continuing momentum we expect a reversal in the share price.

NZDJPY teetering – ready to fall?

The JPY crosses remain nervous – will NZDJPY follow AUDJPY in tripping through the next layers of support. The near term momentum suggests risks of further downside momentum.

The Day After – Markets Recover from Yesterday’s Aggressive Risk Sell-off

Liquidation of risky asset became a complete purge by yesterday mid European session with no stock markets unscathed. If there was any doubt that the downside would be limited to Asia, -2.93% fall in the SMI eased those thoughts. The culprit was the Fed minutes which were slightly more optimistic...

Bernanke Pulls the Puchbowl!

Sorry to say this but the Fed President Bernanke hinted little on when the most expected tapering of bond purchases might begin. The markets were reminded that the gradual decrease in QE will begin when the labor market will show “substantial” improvement, while the FOMC minutes showed that the majority...