Archive for December, 2009
« Previous Entries Next Entries »Gross Move to Cash!
Friday, December 18th, 2009Bill Gross, whom you’ve probably seen on CNBC or the like of PIMCO is known on the street as the “bond king“. He is undoubtedly one of the most astute bond investors on the planet. So you could consider him the EF Hutton of bond investing– when he talks, people listen”! So I’m a little [...]
No Change at BOJ!
Friday, December 18th, 2009The Japanese Central voted to keep their interest rate at .1%, attempting to encourage economic recovery. Japan has been battling deflation for MANY years, but it has picked up recently as the most recent CPI (consumer price index) declined 2.2% in October, marking the eighth straight month of declines. The also issued a statement that [...]
Risk Aversion Kinda Day!
Thursday, December 17th, 2009Overnight, world stock markets sold off as once again as Greece had their debt downgraded by S&P. As a result, EUR/USD is down 1.27% as mounting fears of debt default or a material change in the composition of the Euro is putting pressure on the region. The Euro is near a 3-month low at 1.435. [...]
Volatility Reigns Supreme!
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009As I mentioned, things can get dicey around the Fed rate decision. Today is no different. Here is a 5-minute chart of EUR/USD: Looks like the US dollar is strengthening against the Euro even though the Fed is keeping policy “unchanged”. Right now this pair is hovering around 1.451. It will be interesting to see [...]
FOMC Meeting at 2:15EST!
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009The Fed decision on interest rates is due out at 2:15 EST today. The minutes leading up to and surrounding the decision are usually volatile and currency spreads can widen if there’s uncertainty. So if you do trade around that time, be cautious! Now no one is expecting the Fed to raise interest rates, but [...]
Australia Keeps Moving Along!
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009Last night Australia reported .2% GDP growth, slightly less than the .4% predicted by economists. This is the third straight month that their economy has grown, due in part to government spending on public works projects. Also, the central bank announced that “monetary policy is now back in the normal range”, signaling that the RBA [...]
US PPI A Little Hot!
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009At 8:30 this morning, the US PPI (producer price index) came in a little hot at an increase of 1.8% vs. expectations of .8%. In addition, the Empire Manufacturing Index came in at a disappointing 2.55 vs. an expectation of 24, missing by a wide margin. What does this all mean? Well there are a [...]
Survived the Weekend!
Monday, December 14th, 2009Last Friday the markets seemed a bit “nervous” as recent negative news around the globe has been trickling out. Going into year end, traders are more cautious over the weekend as there are any number of potential land mines out there that could derail world economic stability. Let’s examine a few: Problems with the Euro. [...]
More Problems for the Euro!
Friday, December 11th, 2009I wrote earlier in the week in an article titled, Euro Dead Zone, that there is some potentially trouble brewing in the Euro. Part of this is due to structure of that currency, in that it is comprised of different economies at different levels of strength. Typically, the stronger economies “balance out” the weaker ones, [...]
US Retail Sales Improve!
Friday, December 11th, 2009Retail sales in the US for the month of November 1.3%, better than analyst expectations of .6%. This could mean that the consumer in the US is starting to come back, which would bode well for the US economy and the world economy as well. Since the US consumer makes up more than 2/3 of [...]
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