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Archive for the ‘Fed’ Category

Monday 04/14/08

Currency trading end of last week into this week is like the Abbet and Costello “Who is on first and what’s on second” bit, confusing and violent.
G7 Language was purposefully vague not referencing China’s currency but general currency fluctuations- market tried to anticipate intervention action which caused more violent price action overnight and through [...]

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It has been a week now since the Bear Stearns collapse and the Federal Reserve decision to bail them out and lower rates by 75 basis points. Now what??? We see that Oil is starting to head back up and that the rally that we had in the markets were short and sweet. The dollar [...]

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Well, maybe while you were getting ready for bed. The Federal Reserve Bank decided to make an emergency move this evening and cut the bank lending rate to 3.25 percent from the 3.50 percent it was at earlier. This move made by the Fed was meant to “try” and create some stability in the financial [...]

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Here is the year in review as a comparison chart (left, click to enlarge) comparing the major currencies, in this case versus the euro. The worst performing currencies, the USD and GBP, were down about 9% vs. the euro. The best, the loonie, was up about 9%%.
What happened this year?
The year had a lot [...]

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The Fed disappointeth

     They simply did not drop rates quite as much as many were hoping, today.
    This hit the carry trade hard. The yen and franc rebounded, as did bonds. Part of this is surely the disappointment that the Fed isn’t doing “more” to help the U.S. economy. Worry over the [...]

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     If you missed out on yesterday’s audio commentary, tune to listen to special guest Todd Granthem to talk about trading the current volatility in the markets.
 
    Today, we are discussing the implications of the non-farm payroll numbers and what it means for the Fed and your currency trades. Successful [...]

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Jim Rogers is a bit odd (sorry Jim) in some ways, but a pretty sharp crayon when it comes to the markets. First off, I apologize about the crappy quality of this video, I think someone filmed their TV, yuck. But, it is timely since it is from yesterday, and he has some pretty interesting [...]

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     As the ECB is due to announce its decision on interest rates, the central bankers face on of the biggest dilemmas. To do it or not?
    On one side is the pro-inflation factor of the growing petrol prices, as the inflation in the eurozone reached 3% in the November. [...]

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    The Fed (VP Donald Kohn) said today that they would be using
 
“(these uncertainties require) flexible and pragmatic policymaking — nimble is the adjective I used a few weeks ago.”
and carry trades got a shot in the arm as stocks jumped - no matter that durable goods and housing data came in wimpy, all is [...]

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A student emailed in and asked:
Hey Michael - I was just curious, why did the $DXY take such a dive yesterday? I’m still trying to keep straight what moves with/leads/follows what.
The $DXY is the dollar index. Basically, an average price of the dollar versus many major currencies, not just the euro, pound, [...]

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Stocks cratered in today with a resounding thump as investors got thinking about no more rate cuts (per interpretation of the announcement.)
It looks like they may be making lower highs and lows - the Zig Zag indicator is trying to show that objectively. For sure the uptrend is interrupted again.  We’ve talked here about stocks [...]

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Well, Uncle Ben came through for investors and it turns out they were satisfied with the 25 basis point in interest rates. Read the statement here. And everything you want to know about the Fed is here at The Fed 101.
It seems that decent earnings over the past couple weeks and fairly strong economic data [...]

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Tomorrow the Fed steals the show announcing its latest decision on interest rates. Forex basics recap: high rates are good for the dollar, low bad. Low are good for stocks, and stocks still have a leadership cap on, meaning the more rate cuts the better for most currencies out there (the carry, the higher [...]

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It’s been fun to watch the EUR/USD: weeks ago we talked in the Daily Commentary about its trendline bounce up; more recently it surprised me as it broke through rising resistance, and now possibly a flag on the way to a support bounce. There’s a big maybe there, nothing is set in stone but that’s [...]

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Housing: the gift that keeps giving

Pimco bond legend Bill Gross mentioned today how he thinks the housing mess will be at the focus of Fed decisions for years to come. Yuck, but hurray for stocks (sorry dollar). And hurray for currencies which are correlating with stocks. Mr. Gross’s monthly newsletter is here. Here’s a snippet:
 
 

PIMCO’s view is that a [...]

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