Market News

What better way to start off a new month than with some big splashes! Watch out today as US and UK traders return from their long weekends and dive straight into the markets!

As Pip Diddy said in his roundup, we’ve got tons of high-impact reports coming out this week. The Bank of Canada will be kicking the party off with its interest rate decision tomorrow. The question on everyone’s minds – will the BOC actually raise rates?

Holy Smokes Pip Diddy, that is a large number of economic reports on this week’s calendar! It looks like the majors will be in for a wild ride this week!

If you were worried about the euro, you can stop now. We saw a story on Bloomberg that quoted Paris-based money manager Emeric Challier as saying, “The crisis is over.”

The dollar took a hit in yesterday’s trading as risk appetite came back with a vengeance. With it being a Friday, could we see more of the same?

“The big lesson of the US financial crisis is that you have to act quickly and with force.” And why not? His “markets want to see action” approach parallels the same skewed thought process that …

Well, well, well… have you been paying attention to the LIBOR? What the heck is LIBOR you ask?! To borrow some words from Pip Surfer, chill out dudes and dudettes, sit back, relax, and listen to good ol’ Forex Gump giving the 411 on LIBOR.

With the exception of the euro, most major currencies found themselves trading within a tight range yesterday. Hah, It looks like the doldrums of summer are coming early this year!

Where does one even begin with that type inanity, from a person who is far from inane? Yo Jim! Germany, that little country holding it all together over there; well, they send about 50% of their exports to the eurozone each year.

Asia hogged the spotlight yesterday as news centered on the growing tension between North and South Korea. Word on the street is that South Korean officials sent a text message saying, “You sank my battleship!” across the border.

Is risk aversion back? It seems that traders are growing concerned about the ongoing tension in Korea and weaknesses in Spain’s banking sector. Read my roundup to find out what’s going on!

The US Treasury Secretary has been in China, tip-toeing around yuan exchange rate reform, Chinese industrial protectionism-type behavior, etc. It was obvious Geithner was not there to point fingers – he’s probably been given a strict script to which he must stick … after seemingly losing his cool on Capitol Hill months ago.

While many are hoping that Greece pulls itself out of the debt mess soon, let me play the villain by saying that giving Greece more money probably won’t be enough to solve its debt problems.

With European traders returning from their long weekend today, could we see more volatility in todays trading session? Make sure you stay ahead of the markets by reading today’s roundup!

Many are afraid the dollar is overbought and the run is done. No doubt, we will see ebbs and flows. But long-term, we haven’t seen capitulation yet to this dollar move.

Woah! Looks like inflation is rising in Canada. Could this give the BOC even more reason to hike rates next month?

It looks like the dollar ended up on the losing side of the fence last Friday. Has the dollar’s rally finally topped out? Or was this merely a much needed technical correction?

The stock market of late seems to be noticing them. But commentators seem to be looking right past them–systemic risks. Why do I say that? Well, it seems every time I flip on the TV to a financial show, one mutual fund manager after another is trotted out to tell me this is a great buying opportunity.

After my Tuesday note on Latvia, I received two very informative emails pointing out my errors, omissions, etc. … as well as some additional noteworthy tidbits about the Baltics. I’ll get to those reader responses in a second.

What a wild week in the forex world! Currency intervention? More debt contagion fears? Let me get you up to speed on the latest happenings in the currency markets.