forex news

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 – 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 – China manufacturing slows to an 8-month low

Posted on March 3, 2014 at 11:26 am GMT

The world’s second largest economy is still indicating signs of struggling to expand as data released over the weekend showed slowing momentum in the manufacturing sector. There were two separate reports on China’s Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) – one was official from the Chinese government and the other was a private survey by HSBC/Markit. The government data showed a dip to an eight-month low of 50.2, compared to 50.5 in January. The bright side was that the reading was above [..]

Forex News – Rising confidence in Australian business and housing

Posted on February 11, 2014 at 10:09 am GMT

Confidence in Australia’s business sector appears to be on the rise while the housing sector is also showing signs of improvement. This was welcome news, especially since the important mining sector has been on the decline and putting a dent in the economy. According to the National Australia Bank (NAB) monthly business conditions survey, overall confidence rose to a near-3-year high in January. The index rose to +4 in January from +3 in December, the highest since March 2011. Meanwhile, [..]

Forex News – Eurozone retail sales drop in December

Posted on February 5, 2014 at 1:57 pm GMT

The volume of retail sales in the Eurozone fell by more-than-forecast in December, as the Christmas shopping season failed to tempt shoppers to spend more. The drop in sales marked the biggest fall since May 2011. According to the EU’s statistics office Eurostat, the volume of retail trade in the 17-member euro area fell 1.6 % in the month of December after a revised 0.9% rise in November. Most analysts expected only a 0.7% decline. Compared with the same period [..]

Forex News – Improving US economy underpins Fed taper

Posted on December 23, 2013 at 5:28 pm GMT

Markets are focused on US data following the Federal Reserve’s announcement on December 18 to scale back its stimulus program. Since Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke first mentioned earlier this year that tapering was data-dependent, much of the dollar’s recent strength especially against the yen has been driven by improving US data. Last Friday, GDP data showed the US economy expanded at the fastest pace in two years in the third quarter. The revised figures showed a 4.1% growth at [..]

Forex News – Draghi hints at more action but nothing specific

Posted on December 5, 2013 at 3:02 pm GMT

The press conference of the ECB President Mario Draghi was one of the most keenly awaited events of the week. The lack of clarity and the insistence of Draghi not to mention any specific new measures to help the economy – even in the sphere of future possibilities – disappointed those who were hoping for a more proactive ECB. Even the need for a future LTRO (Long Term Refinancing Operation) was questioned by Draghi, as he said that the ECB [..]

US Session – Euro steady in anticipation of Greek aid deal

Posted on November 26, 2012 at 8:41 pm GMT

Most currency pairs continued in tight ranges during the US session as markets remain on hold for any news on the Greek debt deal from the Eurogroup meeting in Brussels today. European Union finance ministers gathered for a third meeting this month with the International Monetary Fund to try and reach agreement on aid for indebted Greece. Uncertainty kept risk appetite at bay. Euro traded a tight range against the dollar, $1.2952 and $1.2974, tightening further towards the end of [..]

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