Bitcoin was bleeding for three days in a row and has fallen almost 20% from record peaks on the approach to the $20,000 handle which was almost reached on Sunday, when CME Group launched bitcoin futures. The recent aggressive sales of the digital currency were due to another hack attack on a South Korean crypto-currency exchange Youbit which subsequently decided...
Crude oil prices continue fluctuating between small gains and losses on Tuesday. Brent is seeking to regain the key $63 handle, but so far fails to resume its recent Forties-inspired rally. Only a decisive break above this level will alleviate immediate downside pressure and open the way to the intermediate resistance at $63.80 and then to $64 a barrel. The...
Gold is trading higher on Monday despite firmer equities and a broadly risk-on mood in the global markets. The precious metal is trying to gain bullish momentum as the price is continuing last week’s recovery from a four-month low at $1,236.49. Despite the recent bullish signs, risks for the spot gold still point to the downside. The key risk for the yellow metal...
The EURUSD pair basically shrugged off the latest ECB statement which was viewed as dovish by markets. After a dip towards the support area at 1.1760, the pair has recovered part of the post-ECB slide and is probing the 1.18 handle again. The dollar didn’t receive any meaningful support from strong US retail sales data as traders are still focused on the Trump’s...
The Bank of England unanimously voted to leave interest rates unchanged at 0.50% and reiterated "further modest increases" were likely over next few years. In a knee-jerk reaction GBPUSD retreated, but held within a familiar trading range. The negative initial reaction was partly due to the regulator’s cautious rhetoric, as the market expectations got more upbeat...
The greenback gained modestly overnight, buoyed by the impressive US PPI data. Today USD is trading under a mild pressure against most of its counterparts ahead of FOMC decision which is widely expected to bring a 25 bp rate hike. But the market focus suddenly shifted to the political arena where the Thump Republicans faced another hurdle. Specifically, the...
The headline UK CPI came at 3.1% in November, which is the highest since March 2012. The GBPUSD gained initially on the release, but struggled to keep gains and met the sell interest in the 1.3380 area. The CPI reading peaked above 3.0%, which means the BoE chief will have to write an explanation letter to the finance minister. Basically, the faster inflation...
The NZD was the best performer in Asia today, propped up by the news of a new RBNZ governor appointment. The NZDUSD pair jumped nearly 1% and reached new December highs at 0.6929 in response to the news that Adrian Orr has been appointed a governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. He will begin his five-year term on March 27. The announcement gave a boost to...
Let us ask ourselves if the NFP report will have any impact on the markets. It is unlikely it will. With two weeks before Christmas, and also considering that next week the Fed and the ECB will have their meetings, the investors will not rush into aggressive USD's buying or selling. In September, the US employment data was awfully weak but that time it was a...
The Aussie is on the back foot again. The currency refreshed 6-month lows against the buck at 0.7517. This time the reason for the sale-off was the disappointing trade balance data, which showed a sharp drop to the 6-months lows. At the same time exports decreased by 3%, mainly due to a drop in sales in the mining and metallurgical sectors, while imports grew by...
EUR and USD exchanged the courtesy and disappointed the markets with weak statistics. The investors are ‘reading tea leaves’ trying to guess what will have a bigger impact on the EUR/USD: Trump's tax cut reform or the debt ceiling. The biggest central banks start thinking about the pair’s path in 2018. US ISM Manufacturing Index receded from the area of 12-years...
Analysis of % market cap of europe and america vs the world ... money.visualcapitalist.com
The Pound tried hard but was not able to sustain above the 1.35 area against the US dollar. Theresa May failed the negotiations with EU’s Junker on Monday. At least, both sides declared they did not achieve any sufficient progress. Jean-Claude Juncker mentioned that Britain’s position is a tough one, so it is not easy to negotiate with it. It is quite possible...
USD made the fur fly. We were waiting for a quiet weekend, and nothing foreboded the storm on Friday, but then suddenly the ball rolled. The Senate approved the tax bill, and Trump’s ex-advisor Flynn confession took the stage. Among these two messages, the latter one did not influence the dollar, but the former one was a great help. The passing of US tax bill gave...
USD/JPY had been growing since Tuesday before it settled above the 112.00 level. One of the reasons for the recovery, apart from the approval of the tax cut bill, was a technical correction. But today we see another decline. As usual, USD lost some points due to weaker Treasury yields. But, also, the market is now concentrated on the Fed’s monetary policy path...
Today OPEC is discussing the possible prolongation of its oil cut agreement. What does this mean for the crude? The most optimistic scenario, the extension for 9 months till the end of 2018, is already fully priced in. But the odds are this will not happen. Yesterday, Russia and Saudi Arabia reached a consensus but did not deliver the details. One of the...
For the UK, the rumours of the ‘divorce bill’ agreement between Britain and EU may compare only with the news about the engagement of Prince Harry. This is a real and long-awaited progress in Brexit talks. The rumours were confirmed, and today’s morning GBP surged to the 1.3430 area. This has been just a preliminary agreement which should be confirmed on the...
The euro is not so strong as we thought. The common currency plays it close to the edge. During almost twenty days, the European currency had been growing because of the dollar’s weakness and not because of its own strength. Quite apart from the fact that the political situation in Europe has been improving, EUR will need a support from the ECB on December’s...