Archive for May, 2010
« Previous EntriesSummer Upon Us!
Friday, May 28th, 2010For now, the Euro zone debt crisis appears to have been averted. For now. The Euro is higher for the second straight day as short-covering is taking place. As I’ve repeatedly mentioned, every day that the Euro can get by without negative news is a positive for world markets in general. As a result, we’ve [...]
Appetite For Risk!
Thursday, May 27th, 2010The US reported growth figures today that while positive, have missed expectations. US GDP came in at 3% vs. and expectation of 3.4%. In addition, initial jobless claims were reported at 460K, largely in line with expectations. This morning has started out in full risk-taking mode, as no additional negative news has come out of [...]
Proceeding With Caution!
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010After the furious selling pressure that has taking place in world markets; yesterday, the US stock market was able to rebound and reverse most of its early morning losses. In what has become a familiar pattern, traders push the Euro lower in the overnight session, which causes commodities and stock futures to sell off until [...]
A Perfect Storm!
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010World financial markets are facing a “perfect storm” as a combination of geo-political and financial uncertainty is driving risk-aversion. The first issue is coming from the Euro zone as Spain seeks to shore up its banking system. A series of banking mergers aimed at pairing weak banks with stronger ones has caused investors to fear [...]
Is Spain Next?
Monday, May 24th, 2010Over the weekend, the Euro debt crisis took an unexpected turn for the worse as the Spanish central bank took over a savings bank after a planned merger had failed. While in and of itself this is not a big deal, viewing it through the context of overall EU financial health has made the bounce [...]
Possible Intervention?
Friday, May 21st, 2010Talk is heating up around the globe that Central Bank interventions could be forthcoming in order to stabilize the currency markets. Currently, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) has been active in trying to maintain prices for the Franc vs. the Euro, and now the market is jittery that a meeting today of Euro zone finance [...]
The Great Unwind!
Thursday, May 20th, 2010I talk often about carry trades in the currency market which go hand in hand with the risk themes that drive daily price action. When there is confidence in the financial markets, investors look to take on risk and seek out higher yielding assets. They can do this by selling the currency of a low [...]
German Political OxyMorons!
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010The German people are known for being hard-working, efficient, industrious people. They are not known for their charismatic personalities or ability to excel in politics. While this is not a bad thing, it is coming back to haunt the Euro zone as Germany is making unilateral decisions that affect the financial markets. Just yesterday, Germany [...]
What Inflation?
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010This week marks the time of the month that the inflationists come out in full-force as a slew of CPI data is forthcoming from around the globe. Today, data from the EU and the UK show that consumer prices are moving slightly higher, though there are no signs that policy-makers are ready to move on [...]
Survived the Weekend!
Monday, May 17th, 2010One of the biggest fears in the marketplace is holding positions over the weekend as news may come out that may affect an investment and there is nothing investors can do about it until that specific market reopens. This is why many professionals “hedge” their risk by investing in un-correlated asset classes. The forex market [...]
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