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Forex News – Sterling falls after S&P downgrades outlook for UK

Posted on December 13, 2012 at 9:03 pm GMT

Sterling tumbled against the dollar on Thursday after news that Standard and Poor’s cut the outlook on the United Kingdom’s credit rating from stable to negative. The U.K. is now at risk of losing its prized AAA credit rating. The latest downgrade follows from rating agencies Moody’s and Fitch who already have negative outlooks for the UK. There is a one-in-three chance that S&P could cut the rating in the next two years, it said in a statement in London [..]

Forex News – US retail sales rise while jobless claims fall

Posted on December 13, 2012 at 2:20 pm GMT

Some positive data from the US today on retail sales and jobless claims lifted market sentiment in early New York trading hours, pointing to steady healing in the economy. A report showed that the number of initial jobless claims fell to a nine-week low and a fourth straight week.According to the US Labor Department, Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell 29,000 to a seasonally adjusted 343,000 for the week ending December 8. This was more than the expected [..]

Forex News – SNB maintains EURCHF cap at 1.20 after policy meeting

Posted on December 13, 2012 at 11:08 am GMT

The Swiss National Bank policy meeting was held on Thursday, with the central bank announcing it kept the three-month target Libor rate unchanged and also that it would maintain its cap on the EURCHF exchange rate at 1.20 CHF. The SNB reiterated its policy on intervention on the FX markets if necessary and was prepared to buy unlimited amounts of foreign currency in order to prevent the Swiss currency from appreciating too much. “We cannot exclude the possibility that we [..]

Forex News – Federal Reserve eases policy

Posted on December 12, 2012 at 8:59 pm GMT

The Federal Reserve expanded its stimulus to the economy on Wednesday, citing a continued slow pace of recovery in employment as contentious U.S. budget talks heighten uncertainty about the outlook. The following are comments from economists on the Federal Reserve’s decision on Wednesday to expand stimulus measures. MARK ZANDI, CHIEF ECONOMIST, MOODY’S ANALYTICS, WEST CHESTER, PENNSYLVANIA: “It’s a very bold move, more than anticipated. They came through with more quantitative easing. The communication was well ahead of expectations. They said [..]

Forex News – Greek bond buyback scheme completed

Posted on December 12, 2012 at 2:44 pm GMT

Greece’s bond buy back deadline ended on Tuesday but narrowly missed its target. But the bottom line is that it greatly reduces the country’s debt load. In its scheme to purchase debt back from investors, the Greek government had a maximum budget of 10 billion euros. There was a huge discount to the face value of these bonds, amounting to about 30 billion euros. In order to buy back the entire amount of the target Greece needs additional funding from [..]

Forex News – Sterling rises after goods UK jobs data

Posted on December 12, 2012 at 10:28 am GMT

The labour market in the United Kingdom showed some signs of improvement in November based on improved jobs report released on Wednesday by the UK Office of National Statistics. The number of people in Britain claiming unemployment benefits rose less than expected last month bringing the number to 1.58 million Britons and the number of people who are employed with a job has hit a record high. The surprise 3,000 fall in the claimant count pushed sterling higher against the [..]

Commodities – Gold prices edge up ahead of Fed

Posted on December 12, 2012 at 8:52 am GMT

Gold prices edged up on Wednesday as the US dollar remains under pressure on expectations of easing by the Federal Reserve at a policy meeting that concludes later today. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is expected to announce further stimulus measures on the form of bond purchases in the amount of $45 billion. Such measures tend to have a weakening effect on the US currency and this will support gold as it is seen as a hedge against inflation. [..]

Forex News – Canada’s trade gap narrows, boosting loonie to 7-wk high

Posted on December 11, 2012 at 3:17 pm GMT

The Canadian dollar was boosted against its US counterpart after trade data showed Canada’s trade deficit narrowed in October. According to Statistics Canada, the trade gap was much smaller than expected at C$169 million ($171 million) in October from a revised C$1.01 billion deficit in September. The main contributing factor was a surge in exports coupled with a drop in imports . Exports rose by 1 percent to $38.1 billion, boosted by higher prices and volumes . Farm, fishing and [..]

Forex News – US trade deficit widens in October

Posted on December 11, 2012 at 2:26 pm GMT

The US dollar fell sharply against the yen after data showed the US trade deficit widened in October as slowing global demand takes a toll on its exports which fell the most since January 2009. According to data released by the US Commerce Department on Tuesday, the trade deficit widened 4.9 percent to $42.2 billion, while The October figure was slightly less than the $42.6 billion expected but more than September’s trade gap which was revised to $40.3 billion from [..]

Forex News – Euro rises on improved German ZEW sentiment index

Posted on December 11, 2012 at 10:36 am GMT

The euro rose after some positive economic data out of Germany, on speculation will it pick up next year. Germany is Europe’s largest economy so this is important data. The data indicate conditions are not so grim in Germany and is expected to survive the recession in the euro zone. The German ZEW index rose sharply in December showing German investor confidence has improved. The index showed a jump to 6.9 points from -15.7 in November, coming in well above [..]

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