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Forex News – Federal Reserve apprehensive of raising rates too quickly

Posted on February 19, 2015 at 1:40 pm GMT

The minutes of the Federal Reserve January 27/28 meeting were released yesterday and overall they showed a committee with some concerns about the economic outlook and whether US interest rates can rise soon. One of the main takeaway points from the minutes is that most Fed members prefer to wait in raising interest rates – perhaps risking possible negative side effects such as inflation or asset bubbles – rather than raising rates too quickly which could hurt the US economic [..]

Forex News – UK unemployment falls; sterling rallies

Posted on February 18, 2015 at 3:02 pm GMT

The news about better-than-expected UK employment statistics helped the pound move higher in today’s trading. Unemployment fell to 5.7% for the three months to December – its lowest since July 2008 and below expectations for it to remain constant at 5.8%. The claimant count number of unemployed fell by 38.6 thousand during January, against expectations of a drop of 25 thousand expected by economists. These statistics show that the UK economy is creating enough jobs to lower the rate of [..]

Forex News – Eurozone finance ministers fail to agree on Greece

Posted on February 17, 2015 at 11:05 am GMT

The news that a regular Eurogroup meeting of finance ministers broke down without a deal on Greece was the main piece of news for the forex markets during a day that the US was on holiday. The meeting was mainly preoccupied with the Greek government’s request to change its current bailout conditions so that less austerity and more pro-growth policies would be followed. A deal was not possible since the new Greek government refused to ask for an extension of [..]

Forex News – Week Ahead – Eurogroup, FOMC are highlights of the week

Posted on February 13, 2015 at 2:57 pm GMT

The week ahead sees some important releases from across the globe. Probably the most eagerly awaited event will be the Eurogroup meeting. Other important events include the FOMC statement and the Bank of England minutes. Economic data releases will also be closely watched, especially PMIs from various countries. The first piece of data next week comes from Japan, which releases fourth quarter GDP numbers and industrial output data on Monday. For the remainder of the day, the market’s focus will [..]

Forex News – Australian unemployment jump leads to rate cut speculation

Posted on February 12, 2015 at 11:02 am GMT

Australian unemployment for January surprised on the upside when it was released earlier today and was accompanied by news that the economy actually lost 12 thousand jobs instead of creating 5 thousand as economists expected. The jobless rate climbed to its highest since 2002 at 6.4% compared with a rate of 6.1% the previous month and economists’ expectation that unemployment was only going to rise to 6.2% – a level it was at during October and November. The net loss [..]

Forex News – Fed’s Lacker supports June rate hike

Posted on February 11, 2015 at 2:23 pm GMT

A mid-year interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve is now a possibility after comments made by Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker who spoke on Tuesday in Raleigh, North Carolina. He added that it did depend on the economic data though but he believes that raising rates in June would be an “attractive” option on the basis of a stronger dollar. Lacker is a voting member of the Fed’s policy committee this year, so investors took note of his hawkish remarks, [..]

Forex News – China’s inflation rises at slowest pace in over 5 years

Posted on February 10, 2015 at 1:25 pm GMT

Inflation in China fell to the lowest level since November 2009, raising concern over a deepening weakness in the world’s second largest economy. According to data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics, the nation’s consumer-price index (CPI) missed expectations of a 1.0% rise year-on-year and rose 0.8% on the year in January. This was down from a 1.5% annual increase in December. In addition to CPI, producer prices also came in below forecasts for a 3.8% fall. PPI declined [..]

Forex News – Chinese imports shrink, as both domestic and external demand weaker

Posted on February 9, 2015 at 2:32 pm GMT

The news that Chinese imports shrunk sharply during January was a negative development that showed that domestic demand in the world’s second largest economy was soft. Both export and import growth were weak, as exports contracted by 3.3% year-on-year instead of climbing 6.3% as expected. Exports to Europe were negative, although exports to the United States had a positive sign. However, the drop in imports was much more significant, as they were down 19.9% year-on-year versus a drop of only [..]

Forex News – Week Ahead: UK inflation report, Australian employment, Eurozone GDP and US retail sales to attract attention

Posted on February 6, 2015 at 2:58 pm GMT

Next week will feature some important data out of China and Australia in Asia, the Eurozone GDP and Quartertly UK Inflation Report in Europe and advance US Retail Sales. It will be interesting whether the news will continue to support the recent rebounds of majors such as the UK pound, the euro and the Australian dollar against the US dollar or if the pro-dollar momentum following the strong employment report will get a fresh boost. Movements in the price of [..]

Forex News – ECB toughens terms for liquidity to Greece as government bonds no longer accepted as collateral

Posted on February 5, 2015 at 10:52 am GMT

The news that the ECB would cease accepting Greek government bonds for regular refinancing operations came as a negative surprise for the euro and for risk assets more broadly. The news did not mean that the ECB will no longer provide liquidity to Greek banks, but that banks in need of liquidity and in possession of Greek government bonds would have to apply to the Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) program. This would entail a higher interest cost – about 100 [..]

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