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Forex News – Tough negotiations ahead between Greece and its lenders after Monday’s Eurogroup

Posted on March 10, 2015 at 2:30 pm GMT

The Eurogroup meeting of Eurozone Finance Ministers on Monday pointed to the direction of further talks between Greece and the institutions responsible for monitoring Greece’s adjustment program. Progress in setting and implementing a package of reforms – something the Greek government has undertaken to carry out as a result of the February 20 agreement – has been slow. Technical discussions between Greek officials and officials from the institutions would start in Brussels on Wednesday, while teams in Athens would also [..]

Forex News – US Treasury yields surge on optimism of mid-year rate hike after strong jobs

Posted on March 9, 2015 at 12:50 pm GMT

US treasury yields and the dollar surged on Friday after the release of the nonfarm payrolls report. The strong jobs numbers increased bets among investors that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates by the middle of this year. Increased optimism for the US economy results in a reduced demand for treasuries (which are seen as safer assets). This consequently leads to a rise in yields as bond prices fall (the two have an inverse relationship). Current holdings of bonds [..]

Forex News – Week Ahead – RBNZ and Australian jobs data in focus

Posted on March 6, 2015 at 2:34 pm GMT

The week ahead will likely be a slower one, compared to this past week, in the sense that there will be fewer tier one data releases. Monday begins with GDP data out of Japan. This will be a final revision for the fourth quarter of 2014. Data released in February showed Q4 GDP increased at 0.6% and on an annualized rate of 2.2% in the three months through December. Other data that would be interesting to watch out of Japan [..]

Forex News – Canadian GDP rises but focus is on BOC rate decision

Posted on March 4, 2015 at 11:05 am GMT

Canada released fourth quarter gross domestic product data on Tuesday which was quite encouraging, especially a day before the Bank of Canada was scheduled to meet to decide on interest rates. GDP data showed that the Canadian economy grew at a faster pace than was forecast in Q4, which increased market expectations for the Bank to hold rates steady today and not lower the current 0.75% rate. The annualized GDP rate came in at 2.4%in the final three months of [..]

Forex News – RBA postpones rate cut for future; aussie rallies

Posted on March 3, 2015 at 11:11 am GMT

Having surprised with a quarter-point rate cut during its previous meeting on February 3, the RBA again delivered a surprise today by choosing to keep rates constant. Most analysts expected another rate that would lower the benchmark cash rate to 2.00%. Instead, the Bank’s policy board decided to keep rates constant at an all-time low of 2.25%. The accompanying statement did point out that further easing might be appropriate over the period ahead. Economic growth was below trend, domestic demand [..]

Forex News – Improved Eurozone inflation and employment data overshadow disappointing PMI

Posted on March 2, 2015 at 3:19 pm GMT

The euro bounced higher on Monday despite the mixed Eurozone data. The Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for manufacturing was disappointing but other than that, inflation and jobs data were better-than forecast. The headline manufacturing PMI was lackluster in February, coming in at 51.0, remaining unchanged from the prior month and just below a recent flash estimate of 51.1. A number above 50 signals expansion and below that contraction. However, looking at a country-by-country basis, there was a wide divergence between [..]

Forex News – UK continues to grow, Q4 GDP at 0.5%

Posted on February 26, 2015 at 2:21 pm GMT

The second estimate of UK gross domestic product (GDP) for the fourth quarter of 2015 showed that economic growth expanded by 0.5% quarter on quarter. This was in line with most expectations but this figure was the slowest quarterly growth rate in a year and lower than the third quarter’s 0.7% q/q growth rate. Nevertheless, the GDP data are much better than the Eurozone’s and a recent series of strong UK economic data highlight that the UK economy is on [..]

Forex News – Janet Yellen signals Fed to hold off rate hikes for now

Posted on February 25, 2015 at 10:21 am GMT

The semi-annual testimony of Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on monetary policy before Congress was roughly in line with expectations. Yellen was cautious not to create expectations that the Fed was preparing to hike interest rates imminently but at the same time she wanted to signal that the Fed was still moving towards some sort of policy normalization. This was a balancing act that Yellen appeared to be managing relatively well. The Fed is also still trying to transition from [..]

Forex News – Greece deal averts Grexit scenarios

Posted on February 24, 2015 at 3:10 pm GMT

Following tense negotiations for 3 weeks between the new Greek government and its international creditors consisting of the Eurozone and the IMF, a deal was found that will extend the indebted country’s financing program for an additional 4 months. The current program between Greece and the EU / IMF was due to expire at the end of February. In order for the deal to be approved by Eurozone finance ministers (the so-called Eurogroup), a list of reforms had to be [..]

Forex News – Week Ahead – Inflation numbers from US, UK Eurozone in focus

Posted on February 22, 2015 at 9:01 pm GMT

The highlight of this week will be Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s testimony as well as GDP numbers from the US, UK and Germany. Meanwhile, Euro zone, UK and US inflation data are also important to watch for. On Monday, the Bank of Japan will release minutes from its latest monetary policy meeting. Focus will then turn to Germany’s Ifo business climate data. In the US, existing home sales figures are due. Tuesday’s economic calendar will be quite busy. The final [..]

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