The Australian dollar is coming off a sizable gain against the greenback, following an employment jump of 58,600. This pushed the unemployment rate down to 5.9 percent from 6.2 percent in September. Analysts are expecting this to hinder further rate cuts near-term, while economist Stephen Koukoulas believes the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) may indeed raise...
Junk bonds are typically just that - junk. But, the iShares High Yield Corporate has been one of those crowded trades that just do not die. After witnessing the immaculate short squeeze from 1,864, the SPX staged an impressive rebound. But as I mentioned earlier today (on my InvestFeed - link below), the SPY is looking weak, and the ADX, which measures trend...
The kiwi had a solid move against the dollar on Friday, gaining 1.14 percent. The move came as commodities rebounded, thus pushing up their respected commodity FX. This was a response to the weaker dollar, but commodities saw their sixth week of capital inflows as traders deem a more risk-on approach in the medium-term. The move into commodities has been the...
As many of you know today is FED day as the FOMC has its Interest rate Decision & Statement coming out today at 2pm (New York). The expectation is that there will be no changes made at this particular time so most of the “volatility” and “reaction” will be based off of the tone of the statement as trader hunt for any clues of when the rate hike may occur. This is...
The BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are highly watched emerging markets because they represented roughly 22 percent of global GDP in 2014. However, the global economic slowdown and increased geopolitical tension has weighed heavy on these markets. Although, India may be the most resilient economy out of the BRICS. India has felt its share of...
Commodity currencies (AUD, NZD, CAD) underwent a short-squeeze following the Federal Reserve's decision to leave rates from zero-to-25 bps, which is theoretically more supportive for commodity speculation. However, after market participants digested the ultra-dovish FOMC, commodity currencies got monkey-hammered lower. AUDUSD was pushed higher to .7276 on Friday,...
Sterling has been on a monster tear after mixed employment data out of the United Kingdom. Averages earnings beat expectations of 2.6 percent, printing a 2.9 percent. However, the U.K. did see a rise in unemployment even as the unemployment rate fell a tenth-percent. Traders are looking to front from any potential talk out of the Bank of England (BoE) that...
Some say this week's FOMC decision will be of historical proportions and be the first time the Federal Reserve will increase the Fed funds rate in almost a decade. The U.S. dollar index is in a descending trend. Price action is floating above the minor trend created by the top on April 13. The dollar has not been able to see any significant support higher,...
Running Alpha Capital Markets observes that higher rates are not always a headwind, as the not too distant record shows that the electric utilities group can outperform and offer a margin of safety. During the last period of higher rates, from mid 2004 to mid-2006, the FOMC hiked rates 16 times, and despite these incremental actions, electric utilities actually...
The dollar-yen has been rather range bound, floating between 123 and 125. The U.S. dollar is likely to remain firm heading into September, as many market participants believe the Federal Reserve will finally raise the Fed funds rate for the first time since 2006. Many traders are looking at the fact that funds rate future traders are pricing in a 54 percent...
Looks bullish here as it has been in a consolidation range ever since 1/14' and has for the most part been btw 15-18 zone. Financials have come back stronger this year and with interest rates set to be raised soon which could lead to better earnings from banks......financials are set to continue to be strong. For BAC.....it has been stuck below 18 lvls. ever since...
The U.S. dollar index is sharply down, following a horrendous day for Chinese equities that did not spark any "safe haven" buying. The 8.48 percent drop in the Shanghai composite was the second worst day ever for the composite since 2007. Traders feared that the Chinese government and the People's Bank of China (PBoC) would pull any assistance to help keep their...
Go long on "optimism" Traders are more “optimistic” in that everything will work out – from rate hikes to Greece – and risk continues to bid higher on the news, or no news as it were. Greece is said to be saved after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras gave into the troika and EU on a bailout extension. The game theorists got.. played? However, the International...
Gold is hated but most because it is the antithesis of greed, which has been feed for years by central banks around the world. I'll be frank, I was rather bearish on the shiny metal an forecasted $1,035 per toz. in 2013. However, as the charade of lackluster growth and quasi-monetary policy continued, gold's fundamentals are bullish. It is too simplistic to...
Dollar bulls may be few and far between, as a potential rate hike has now become a "buy the anticipation, sell the rumor" play. Even the most hardcore bulls like Marc Chandler has taken a step back to rethink the dollar. After making a series of lower highs and lower lows, the dollar could very well test the lows near 93; while a series of resistance levels...
The kiwi has been able to stable a relatively impressive entrancement, following the volatility in the dollar. I first noticed the rally yesterday after it was reported that US President Obama voiced his concern over a stronger US dollar; and all dollar-pegged currencies jumped. Here is my original tweet prior to the surge: twitter.com It is no wonder on why...
The US dollar index was a thing of bubbly-beauty, gaining over 25 percent in a year. Traders thought that after seven years, it is now time for the Federal Reserve to raise rates. Unfortunately, reality is set it. The Fed has always claimed to be data-dependent. First, the potential for a rate hike was when unemployment dropped to 6.5 percent. That came and went...
This is not the first time the euro-dollar has been able to stage monster rallies, as faith in the US dollar continues to crumble. The dollar index has had a few of the worst days since 2009. Previously via Twitter, I supported the initial rally from 1.0880; but as it approached the current supply zone, I believed it would be a tough nut to crack for further...