The EUR/USD finally hit parity earlier amid fears of a Russian gas shutdown, rising hawkish bets on the Fed and downbeat risk sentiment. The final nail in the euro’s coffin was news of a considerable deterioration in the German economic outlook, according to the closely-watched ZEW survey.
But the historical and psychological significance of 1.0000 means we were...
The USD/MXN is attempting a breakout above 20.50, which will also see rates take out the bearish trend line that has been in place since last year. At the time of writing, it was doing a good job at that. A closing break would pave the way for more gains in this pair, and losses for the Mexican Peso.
Emerging market currencies have been in the spotlight amid the...
With investors fearful that a recession might be looming, they are selling everything now: crude oil, copper, stocks, crypto – you name it.
Today, oil caught the attention thanks to its $10 slide.
Crude oil prices are likely to be on a slippery slope given rising concerns about an economic slowdown.
We will now likely see traders sell into the rips than buy...
Strong US dollar and rising interest rate expectations continue to weigh on the precious metal, with the metal once again unable to benefit from the ongoing risk aversion in the markets. With gold prices almost back to the same levels as the early parts of 2022, the outlook doesn’t look great – at least for now. Something must change fundamentally to trigger a...
The big news for Bitcoin was from MicroStrategy, purchasing an additional 480 bitcoins for about $10.0 million at an average price of $20,817 per coin. So far, the news hasn't impacted the price of Bitcoin as it continues to hover around that $20K handle. We will need to see a big reversal stick around current levels to give hope that we have seen at least a...
Unsurprisingly, the Nasdaq has once again underperformed because of its large constituents of technology companies. It has stocks that pay no or low dividends and were driven higher in the past by hopes that we will see strong, sustainable, economic growth. In other words, undesirable companies in the current economic environment.
The Nasdaq hit resistance at...
Bitcoin has risen back above $20K after the weekend plunge below this key level.
At around $20K, bitcoin is now severely oversold following a relentless sell-off. There’s the possibility we will see at least a short-term recovery, although so far, we haven’t seen any clear bottom pattern yet.
Incidentally, the area just below 20K also marks the high from...
The FOREXCOM:USDCHF has been rising for several days as the market has continually pushed up the Fed's projected rate hikes, sending the dollar higher against everything.
The FOMC was expected to hike by 50 basis points, but now the market expects 25 more. A 75 basis hike would be more than any other major central bank and would indicate the central bank's...
Ahead of the May Consumer Price Index (CPI) report out of the US, the world’s oldest inflation hedge is consolidating in a tight range above rising trend line support.
Traders and economists are expecting inflation to come in at 8.3% y/y (+0.7% m/m), in-line with last month’s reading, and with a highly-anticipated FOMC meeting set for next Wednesday, gold in...
The greenback has had a rough couple of weeks against its northern rival, with USD/CAD shedding nearly 500 pips since peaking above 1.30 in mid-May.
Amidst oil prices (strongly correlated with the loonie) surging and hints of a potential second half “pause” to the Fed’s rate hiking cycle, it’s not surprising that traders have been shifting their marginal dollars...
After an impressive 1700-pip surge in just 7 weeks, USD/JPY is showing signs of losing momentum over the past couple of weeks.
The rally was driven by expectations of more aggressive interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve, but with inflation showing signs of ebbing slightly and traders fully discounting nearly another 200bps of tightening from the FOMC,...
Like other risk assets, Ethereum has had a rough month.
Since the world's second-largest cryptoasset peaked above $3500 early in the month, it has trended steadily lower consistently lower for the last three weeks, hitting a 2-month low under $2800 earlier this week.
It's flying a bit under the radar, but there is a critical catalyst for Ethereum coming up at...
Markets saw explosive moves across the board on yesterday’s news that Russia was invading Ukraine, and not surprisingly, gold was one of the biggest gainers early in the day as traders piled into the safe haven asset.
However, as the day preceded, markets saw a sharp reversal, with everything from oil to stock indices unwinding their initial moves. Gold saw a...
It’s been an interesting week for USD/JPY to say the least.
The pairing of two “safe haven” started the week by rallying to nearly 116.00 before turning lower to close the week near its two-week low around the 115.00 level. As you might expect, the conflicting headlines about the ongoing geopolitical situation between Russia and Ukraine (and by extension, “The...
The world’s most widely-traded currency pair has had a heck of a week!
EUR/USD opened the week near 1.1140, essentially its lowest level in more than 18 months, before gaining ground every single day this week to trade solidly above 1.1400 as we go to press. On a percentage basis, the pair’s 300-pip rally ranks as the second-biggest 1-week gain in the past six...
EUR/USD is putting the finishing touches on a brutal week, with the world’s most widely-traded currency pair falling over 200 pips week-to-date to hit its lowest level in more than 18 months.
Not surprisingly, the weakness in the pair was driven by the same factor driving the greenback higher across the board: higher yields, especially on the short end of the...
Volatility reared its head across all markets this week, and the oil markets were no exception.
A combination of geopolitical tensions, general inflationary pressures, and a lingering supply/demand imbalance pushed the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil to its highest level since 2014 early in the week.
However, sentiment turned on a dime in the...
Shrugging off ongoing political uncertainty around Boris Johnson’s future as UK Prime Minister, the British pound was one of the strongest major currency pairs this week.
GBP/USD has surged nearly 600 pips off its Christmas week lows to reach the mid-1.3700s, breaking out of a 9-month bearish channel in the process. While rates did pull back slightly on Friday,...
