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Forex News – UK retail sales beat forecasts, helped by housing recovery

Posted on March 26, 2015 at 10:55 am GMT

Sterling received a boost after stronger-than-expected UK retail sales numbers for February. According to a report released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday, sales volumes rose 5.7% year-on-year. The prior 5.4% figure was revised up to 5.9%. Most economists expected retail sales to rise just 4.7% on the year. Meanwhile, on a month-on-month basis, retail sales rose 0.7% versus 0.4% expected. January’s figure was revised to a 0.1% gain from an original reading for a 0.3% decline. [..]

Forex News – Spanish regional election shows anti-establishment parties gaining but still behind traditional parties

Posted on March 23, 2015 at 10:16 am GMT

The Sunday elections for the region of Andalusia, in Southern Spain, were keenly watched in order to check how the country’s anti-establishment parties were faring. Spain will go through a general election which is scheduled to take place by the end of the year. Andalusia is the country’s most populated region but is not necessarily indicative of Spain as a whole as it is a largely agricultural and tourist-dependant region with an older population – traditionally a stronghold of Socialists. [..]

Forex News – Week Ahead – US GDP and inflation in focus next week

Posted on March 20, 2015 at 1:51 pm GMT

The bulk of next week’s data releases come from the United States. Final fourth quarter GDP data are due on Friday. The initial Q4 estimate of 2.6% was revised lower to 2.2% in the second reading. This was a disappointing pace of growth compared to the third quarter’s 5.0% rate. If there are significant revisions to give a lower final Q4 reading, this could affect the timing of the first Fed rate hike. Last Wednesday’s FOMC statement and Fed Chair [..]

Forex News – Fed more dovish on US economy changes rate hike expectations

Posted on March 19, 2015 at 11:17 am GMT

(Source: Thomson Reuters: 10-Year US Treasury Yields) The Federal Reserve gave a clear indication to markets on Wednesday that it is not a matter of “if” but “when” it would begin raising interest rates. The word “patient” was removed from the statement from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) but this did not meant the US dollar reacted positively to this news. In fact the greenback plunged during the release of the statement as well as during Fed Chair Janet [..]

Forex News – Sterling near 5-year lows after poor UK wage growth data

Posted on March 18, 2015 at 11:00 am GMT

There was a mixed bag of UK employment data today but the pound plummeted nevertheless to the lowest level since June 2010. The positive side of the jobs report showed that the employment rate hit the highest on record. The Office of National Statistics said the number of Britons with jobs increased by 143,000 to 30.939 million in the three months through January. This brought up the employment rate to 73.3% which was an all-time high. The number of people claiming [..]

Forex News – Bank of Japan holds stimulus steady, warns of negative inflation

Posted on March 17, 2015 at 10:05 am GMT

The Bank of Japan announced today that it left its monetary policy unchanged. After concluding up a two-day policy meeting which began on Monday, the BoJ refrained from expanding its stimulus program under which it pumps 80 trillion yen into the financial system annually. The central bank’s policymakers maintained their view that Japan’s economy has “continued its moderate recovery trend.” Speaking at press conference in Tokyo following the policy announcement, BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the following: “There’s absolutely no change [..]

Forex news – Canadian dollar plunges to 6-year low on weak jobs

Posted on March 16, 2015 at 5:18 am GMT

The latest job numbers out of Canada for the month of February were discouraging, as the impact of declining oil prices is starting to have an impact on job markets across the country. Canada is the world’s fifth largest crude producer, so oil a major export for the country. As such the Canadian dollar is sensitive to price changes in the commodity. Statistics Canada said that the Canadian economy lost 1,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate rose to [..]

Forex News – Week Ahead – Fed and SNB rate decisions are key events

Posted on March 13, 2015 at 1:55 pm GMT

The Fed’s latest interest rate decision will be the highlight of next week. This key event is scheduled for Wednesday when the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will hold a policy meeting and make the rate announcement after. Recently speculation has grown that the Fed will begin to hike rates by the middle of this year, based on improving economic data that highlight the strengthening US economy. The Federal funds rate has been at record lows close to zero since [..]

Forex News – Reserve Bank of New Zealand signals neutral stance despite falling inflation

Posted on March 12, 2015 at 1:04 pm GMT

The regular meeting of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) resulted in a no-change decision, which kept the Official Cash Rate (OCR) at a relatively high 3.50%. Although the decision itself was widely expected, the RBNZ Governor Graeme Wheeler signaled that the bank was in “neutral” mode – just as likely to increase or to reduce rates according to economic developments. This was similar language to the one used in January’s policy decision statement and did not signify any [..]

Forex News – Euro in freefall as Draghi’s QE, Greek worries slam single currency

Posted on March 11, 2015 at 2:45 pm GMT

The euro has been under intense pressure since the beginning of the year – particularly against the US dollar, against which it has dropped nearly 13% – a huge drop in a period of almost three months. The euro’s recent drop has been quite historic as it marks a more than 12-year low at 1.0559. It is therefore useful to briefly look at the price history single currency since its inception in January of 1999. Shortly after the birth of [..]

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