Forex Previews

Forex News – UK retail sales beat forecasts lifting sterling

Posted on March 27, 2014 at 10:29 am GMT

UK retail sales data beat forecasts to rise in February, sending the British pound to a 3-week high against the euro. According to data from the Office of National Statistics sales volumes jumped 1.7% month-on-month in February and 3.7% year-on-year. The monthly figure showed a rebound from January’s 2.0 % drop. Forecasts were for retail sales to rise 0.5% on the month and 2.5% on the year. The retail sales figures include auto fuel of which sales increased 0.9%. Acting [..]

Forex News – ECB talk of QE pressures euro

Posted on March 26, 2014 at 1:27 pm GMT

Eurozone deflation risks have been a concern to several European Central Bank policy makers recently and have led to suggestions that further monetary policy measures could be taken if necessary in order to combat deflation. ECB governing council members including Jozef Makuch, Governor of the Slovak National Bank, told reporters on Tuesday after presenting a new inflation outlook for Slovakia, that the ECB was preparing additional non-standard measures to avoid a deflationary environment. He added that there was potential for [..]

Forex News – German PMIs miss forecasts

Posted on March 24, 2014 at 12:45 pm GMT

A series of Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) reports were released on Monday by Markit for the month of March for the Eurozone. Particular attention was paid to the German and French PMIs. France’s manufacturing and services flash PMI readings both rose back above the 50 level which demarcates expansion from contraction. The preliminary reading of manufacturing PMI came in at 51.9 while the flash services index printed a reading of 51.4. Output and new orders returned to growth at the [..]

Forex News – Weekly review: Fed meeting was highlight of the week, underpins dollar

Posted on March 21, 2014 at 10:15 am GMT

The climax of the week was without a doubt the Federal Reserve policy meeting as well as Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s press conference. As was widely expected the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) announced its decision to maintain its scaling back of monthly bond buying by a further $US10 billion a month to bring the total stimulus down to $US 55 billion a month. What came as surprise to markets was Yellen’s implication that the Fed will begin to [..]

Forex News – Fed shifts to qualitative forward guidance, Yellen implies earlier rate hikes

Posted on March 20, 2014 at 11:03 am GMT

The Federal Reserve concluded a two-day policy meeting on Wednesday with an announcement that it will taper stimulus by a further $10 billion to $55 billion a month. While this was widely expected by the markets, what came as a surprise were comments by Fed Chair Janet Yellen. During her press conference, Yellen implied that the Fed increased its interest-rate forecasts and suggested that there was no notable change in the Fed’s outlook on the US economy. Yellen remarked that [..]

Forex News – UK unemployment rate held at 7.2%, jobless claims drop

Posted on March 19, 2014 at 12:30 pm GMT

The number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the United Kingdom fell in February by much more than expected. According to data from the Office of National Statistics, the claimant count change was down by 34,600 last month, more than the 25,000 decrease that was forecast, bringing the number of jobless Britons to 1.17 million in February. The number of people who are in employment hit a new record of just under 30.2 million, with the surge in self-employment acting [..]

Forex News – German investor sentiment declines to 7-month low

Posted on March 18, 2014 at 4:18 pm GMT

Investor sentiment in Germany has declined for a third month in March and fell to the lowest level since August. The ZEW Investor Confidence index for March was released on Tuesday, coming in lower than forecast at 46.6 versus 53.0 expected and below February’s 55.7. The ZEW index is complied by conducting a survey on about 275 German institutional investors and analysts who are asked to rate the relative 6-month economic outlook for Germany. It is believed that the tensions [..]

Forex News – EU finance ministers meet to discuss sanctions on Russia, markets hold breath

Posted on March 17, 2014 at 10:15 am GMT

There has been a subdued start to the new trading week, despite headlines over the weekend that Crimea voted in a referendum to join the Russian Federation. Markets were mixed in Asia on Monday but foreign exchange markets were remarkably calm going into the European session. The usual gauge of risk aversion in forex is a strengthening of the safe haven yen. However the yen only briefly gained and the dollar rose towards the upper range of 101 yen. The [..]

Forex News – Federal Reserve policy meeting the main focus next week

Posted on March 14, 2014 at 11:14 am GMT

The most important event of next week will be the Federal Reserve policy announcement on Wednesday following a two-day meeting. Investors will look out to see if the Fed will scale back its current bond buying program further. The current pace of purchases is at $65 billion a month after the Fed trimmed the original asset purchase program by $10 billion at each of its last two policy meetings. This will be Janet Yellen’s first meeting as Fed Chair. It [..]

Forex News – Kiwi strengthens as RBNZ embarks on rate hikes

Posted on March 13, 2014 at 11:20 am GMT

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand delivered a widely expected interest rate hike on Thursday, raising its benchmark cash rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 2.75 percent. The RBNZ takes the lead at exiting from record low interest rates ahead of other major central banks in the developed world, as the United States, Europe. the UK and Japan all grapple with recovering from the financial crisis. While the Bank’s rate hike was expected by many market participants, [..]

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