Forex Previews

Week Ahead – Eurozone and US data to dominate quiet week

Posted on February 19, 2016 at 1:24 pm GMT

Eurozone and US data will dominate the coming week as other nations enjoy a lighter calendar for economic releases for the next seven days. Japanese inflation and the G20 summit in China at the end of the week will also be eyed. Starting the week on Monday will be the flash PMI readings for the Eurozone for February. Manufacturing PMI for the Eurozone is expected to show activity slowing for a second straight month, coming in at 52.0 in February [..]

Oil rebound brings relief to markets but outlook remains uncertain

Posted on February 18, 2016 at 1:08 pm GMT

Crude oil prices extended their gains on Thursday as the deal announced between OPEC and Russia continued to provide support. On Tuesday, OPEC members Qatar, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia agreed with Russia, a non-OPEC member, to freeze output at January levels in a bid to halt the freefall in oil prices. Markets were initially disappointed with the outcome of the Saudi- and Russia-led talks in Doha as the deal did not involve any production cuts. There were also fears of [..]

Pound firms after better-than-expected jobless data

Posted on February 17, 2016 at 11:10 am GMT

The number of people out of work in the UK fell by 60,000 to 1.69 million in the three months to December as labor market conditions continued to improve even as economic growth moderated during 2015. The LFS measure of the unemployment rate was unchanged at a 10-year low of 5.1%, which was short of expectations of a drop to 5.0% in the final three months of last year. The claimant count, which measures the number of people eligible for [..]

UK inflation at highest in a year but core rate slows

Posted on February 16, 2016 at 11:03 am GMT

British consumer prices showed signs of accelerating in January as headline inflation rose to a one-year high. Annual CPI edged higher to 0.3% in January, in line with estimates and up from December’s 0.2% rate. The month-on-month figure was weaker than expected though, recording a drop of 0.8% over the month versus estimates of a 0.7% drop. More significantly, the core rate of inflation, which excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco prices, eased by more than expected, rising at an [..]

China trade shrinks in January but yuan supported by record surplus

Posted on February 15, 2016 at 12:05 pm GMT

Hopes of a quick recovery in China’s trade performance were dashed after figures published today showed both exports and imports fell by a bigger-than-expected amount in January. January exports slumped by 11.2% year-on-year, widely missing forecasts of a more modest 1.9% drop. Imports also continued to decline and were down 18.8% from a year ago in January, falling short of estimates of a 0.8% fall. However, with imports falling at a faster pace than exports, China’s monthly trade surplus soared [..]

Upbeat January retail sales data briefly lift dollar

Posted on February 12, 2016 at 3:32 pm GMT

Retail sales data out of the United States today showed consumer spending remained buoyant in the first month of the year. Total retail sales rose by 0.2% month-on-month in January, beating estimates of a 0.1% increase. The data is even more upbeat when considering the revision to December’s figure, which was revised up to 0.2% from -0.1%. On a year-on-year basis, retail sales were up 3.4%. The ‘control’ measure of retail sales, which excludes sales of volatile items, rebounded even [..]

Week Ahead – Spotlight on Japan GDP, China trade and US, UK inflation

Posted on February 12, 2016 at 12:59 pm GMT

Data out of Japan and China will be watched closely next week as investors will be anxious to see how well Asia’s two largest economies are riding the latest economic storm. The UK will also be in focus with the release of three key indicators, while inflation data and FOMC minutes out of the US will keep dollar traders busy. With US and Canadian markets closed on Monday for a national holiday, Japanese data will dominate the day with the [..]

Swedish krona falls after Riksbank cuts repo rate to -0.50%

Posted on February 11, 2016 at 12:26 pm GMT

Sweden’s central bank, the Riksbank, took markets by surprise by delivering a bigger-than-expected cut in its repo rate. The central bank cut rates by 15bps to -0.50% from -0.35%. Analysts were expecting only a 10bps cut to -0.45%. Citing low inflation as the main reason for today’s decision to loosen monetary policy, the bank said CPI is expected to be lower in 2016 than previously forecast. In its latest projections, the central bank cut the forecast for CPI to 0.7% [..]

Yellen maintains inflation outlook but highlights growing risks

Posted on February 10, 2016 at 6:37 pm GMT

In her testimony to the House Financial Services Committee, Fed Chair Janet Yellen spoke about the growing risks to the US economy in her first public statement since the December rate hike. While maintaining the Fed’s outlook that the economy will continue to grow at a moderate pace and inflation will return to the 2% objective in the medium term, Yellen stressed that monetary policy was not on a “preset course”. Pointing to the recent falls in equity prices and [..]

UK industrial output slumps at end of 2015; similar picture across Europe

Posted on February 10, 2016 at 1:19 pm GMT

It was a poor month for industrial production in Europe’s major economies in December as output slumped towards the end of the year. In the UK, industrial production contracted by 1.1% over the month in December – the biggest monthly drop since September 2012. Expectations were for a much smaller fall of -0.1%. Manufacturing also had a bad end to the year, with output declining by 0.2% month-on-month versus estimates of a 0.1% rise. On a year-on-year basis, industrial output [..]

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