Market News

A year ago, the ECB’s concern was simple: economic recovery. The year 2009 proved to be relatively good, as the euro zone was able to finally climb out of recession and post some optimistic economic data here and there. All good, right?

Yesterday was a relatively quiet trading day as most US traders were off in observance of Martin Luther King day. With a huge amount of economic reports on today’s docket, how will the major currencies react? Find out on my roundup!

Drachma of course is the old currency Greek citizens used to deal with. Could they be heading back to it soon? Maybe!

Looks like the dollar and yen rallied last Friday as traders sought refuge. Could risk aversion be back in play?

I guess he was right – the market will be the arbiter of prices for the USDJPY exchange rate. It’s a good thing nobody listened to the New Japanese Finance Minister, Naoto Kan, when he called for a weaker yen as an integral part of Japan’s hoped economic revival.

Ugh! Did you see that recent report on US retail sales for December? It was terrible! Apparently, sales at the retail level fell 0.3% instead of growing 0.4% like initially expected.

Looks like we’ve got inflation data coming out across the board today! What could this mean for currency markets?

Is it a Black Swan event when so many people are already talking about it? No, but the China cheerleaders will say it is so…

Who cares about inflation? Hardly anybody expects it to rise sharply in the coming year anyway. But I think it is important to take a look at it every now and then. Inflation figures play a key role in the Fed’s decision on interest rates – and that should be reason enough!

Good day Forex Friends! Better watch out as volatility can ensue later with the ECB’s interest rate decision! See what else is up on our daily economic roundup!

Martin Wolf of the Financial Times (quoted above) brings back the common comparison to Japan’s lost decade … in hopes of conveying the similarities between Japan then and the US now.

Compared to the rest of the major economies, Australia has been highly aggressive with its exit strategies as their central bank hiked interest rates for the last three months. And who could blame them?

Woah! Major currencies were all over the place yesterday. What’s going on? Find out by reading my daily economic roundup.

This morning, writing in the Financial Times, long-time Asian market seer and excellent analyst/writer Peter Tasker tells us most emerging markets are looking dicey, given the overvaluation. The biggest problem flows from the biggest one–China, according to Tasker.

China might not be your picture perfect country but nobody can deny its importance in the global economy and international trade. China has been dubbed as the fastest growing country over the last several years, making it the third largest economy in the world.

Looks like we’ve got trade balance reports coming out today! Let’s see how this will influence the currency markets!

China has reaffirmed common belief that it will continue to press on and realize a legitimate and sufficient recovery. They will retain their position as a global economic leader and in doing so will help out many smaller economies at the same time.

Okay folks, the currencies could be in a wild ride this week as the economic calendar sponsors a hefty amount of data! Check out my economic roundup to see what’s coming up!

We’ve paid some attention lately to the fact that the US dollar is reacting positively to fundamentals, i.e. negative data is negative for the buck, positive data is positive for the buck.

Hello there Forex Friends! It’s Jobs Friday! Expect some high volatility following the release of Canada and US’s employment reports!