Forex Previews

Forex News – South African Rand gains as commodities rise after US data

Posted on October 16, 2012 at 8:30 am GMT

The South African Rand has managed to minimize losses made against the US dollar today, following a sharp decline on Monday when it fell by almost 3 percent. Since late Monday, the commodity-linked rand has been strengthening, due in large part to a boost in risk appetite following a better-than-forecast US retail sales report. Consequently commodity prices and risk assets were boosted. This gave a much needed lift to the South African currency especially after it was hurt by news [..]

Forex News – US retail sales rise more than expected in September

Posted on October 15, 2012 at 1:18 pm GMT

US retail sales data were released today showing a more than expected increase in the month of September. Sales rose 1.1 percent, beating forecasts of 0.7 percent. August figures were revised up to 1.2 percent. The sales report reflects broad-based gains in US household spending as Americans spent on everything from back-to-school supplies, electronics, appliances and autos. Auto sales, which can often have an outsize impact on the retail report, rose by 1.3 percent. The sector that saw the biggest [..]

Commodity News – Gold drops to 2-week low

Posted on October 15, 2012 at 8:51 am GMT

Gold prices extended their decline this Monday as the dollar rose. A stronger dollar usually weakens commodities that are priced in USD. Thus, dollar-denominated gold becomes more expensive for holders of other currencies. Dollar strengthened after a report on Friday showed US consumer confidence jumped more than expected in October. Meanwhile some positive news from China over the weekend raised speculation that China may not need additional stimulus. Trade data showed that exports grew more than estimated in September, increasing [..]

Forex News – European Union awarded Nobel Peace Prize

Posted on October 12, 2012 at 12:45 pm GMT

The euro had a reason to celebrate today. The European Union, as an institution was awarded the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize this Friday for promoting peace, democracy and human rights in the past sixty years since the Second World War. This was a much needed moral boost as the EU struggles to resolve its economic crisis. Despite its current economic issues, the bloc has in the most part been recognized for bringing peace to a continent which tore itself apart [..]

Forex News – Spain downgraded by Standard & Poor’s

Posted on October 11, 2012 at 9:51 am GMT

Spain’s creditworthiness has continued to deteriorate as the heavily indebted nation struggles to deal with a large debt burden. This has led to the country’s ratings to be slashed again, this time by Standard and Poor’s. S&P cut Spain’s rating by two notches to BBB – minus, which is one notch above “junk” status. The downgrade comes after another rate cut by Moody’s. It has kept the country’s negative outlook, based on the mounting pressures from the economy’s economic recession. [..]

Forex News – French Industrial Production data beat forecasts

Posted on October 10, 2012 at 12:03 pm GMT

Euro trading was quiet in the European session this Wednesday, with no dramatic headline news, and little on the economic calendar. We had Industrial Production data from France today, which surprisingly was better than forecast, helping give some support to euro. Industrial Production in Europe’s second largest economy rose in August, by 1.5 percent compared to expectations for a drop of 0.2 percent. Also the July figure was revised up to 0.6 percent from 0.2 percent. The upward surprise was [..]

Forex News – Pound hurt by growing UK trade deficit and weak output

Posted on October 9, 2012 at 9:43 am GMT

UK manufacturing production data were released today showing a decline in August, highlighting the weak recovery prospects for the British economy. According to the Office for National Statistics, factory output fell 1.1 percent in August after a downwardly revised bounce of 3.1 percent in July. Expectations were for a dip of 0.6 percent on the month. It is evident that the manufacturing sector is struggling and being affected by the very weak euro area economy and weak global backdrop. The [..]

Forex News – ESM fund to be launched at Eurogroup meeting today

Posted on October 8, 2012 at 1:27 pm GMT

Euro zone finance ministers are meeting in Luxembourg today, and are scheduled to launch the new euro zone bailout fund. The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is a fund made up of 500 billion euros and will be a permanent fund that will be the main defence against the European debt crisis that now threatens Spain. It replaces the previous temporary European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF). The ESM’s main function is to lend to distressed euro zone member governments in return [..]

Forex News – Euro surges after better than forecast NFP

Posted on October 5, 2012 at 1:09 pm GMT

Euro and most risk currencies jumped after a better than expected US nonfarm payrolls report today. The NFP for September printed a total of 114,000 jobs created last month compared to expectations for 113,000. The unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent from 8.1 percent , which is the lowest level since January 2009. The dollar surged against the safe haven yen, with USDJPY jumping to 78.86 within thirty minutes of the news from 78.42 beforehand. Euro hit a high of [..]

Forex News – Euro lifted after ECB leaves rates unchanged

Posted on October 4, 2012 at 12:25 pm GMT

The European Central Bank announced after its policy meeting today that it kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.75 percent. It also left the deposit rate unchanged. While the decision was widely expected, the euro still edged up to a European session high of $1.2966, up from a session low of $1.2918. As inflationary pressures in Europe fail to abate it leaves the ECB in an awkward position of needing to stimulate growth, but hesitant to do so by [..]

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