Safe-haven trades were slightly stronger this morning during the Asian session. The absence of any fresh economic news kept large participants sidelined this morning. Risk aversion was driven by further spread widening of peripheral EU bond spreads against Germany. The trend was set in motion yesterday as the S&P closed 1% lower and risk-correlated assets took their cue from the stock index. ...

Markets Review RBA And BoJ Decisions Ahead Of Potential Hike From BoC

Two central bank meetings had already taken place before European desks even opened today (BoJ and RBA), but the outcomes have been largely in accordance with expectations. Unsurprisingly, the Bank of Japan held its overnight rate steady at 0.10%, but Governor Shirakawa and his colleagues failed to exploit this opportunity to influence the rapidly appreciating JPY to any noticeable degree. In...

Relief over Payrolls Supports Risk Taking...For Now

There was considerable hype leading up to Friday’s US data with many considering the payroll numbers to be the awaited trigger for an upswing in the US. A large surprise to the upside would have further discouraged the Fed from introducing additional QE, which had it happened would have given the USD a strong boost. Private payrolls did surprise to the upside a bit, with August numbers coming in...

Waiting on Private Payrolls

Markets are anxious ahead of today’s critical payroll report. The Forex Market settled into an easy range during the Asian session and traders don’t seem to be in any kind of hurry to open new positions given the uncertainly of today’s US data. One of the core themes this summer has been the seesawing fate of the US economic data and the probability of a double dip in the wider global economy....

FX Market Skittish Before ECB

The rally in risk appetite boosted by strong Chinese and Australian data yesterday was further encouraged after our last article by stronger than expected US ISM numbers. Forex risk correlated currencies, such as the Euro, moved lock-in-step with the data. EURUSD rallied above 1.2800 and the S&P climb above 1080. However, US rates weren’t invited to the party as players remained unsure – 10...

Chinese & Australian Data Supports Risk Appetite

The better than expected Chinese PMI and Australian GDP gave risk appetite a boost and allowed for the accumulation of risk-correlated trades. However, our gut feeling is that the summer risk on/off pattern is still in effect and we suspect the Asian momentum will fade as we get a slew of economic data today. The Asian surprise print help momentarily suspend the market’s obsession with global...

Looking Forward to US Data

With the UK on a long weekend yesterday, Forex traders had a slight pause in what has been a frenzied month. Enjoy it while you can, because September is notorious for being a volatile month and especially in the equity markets. This summer will be remembered (or maybe not) for its schizophrenic trading and a failure to maintain any meaningful directions or themes. This morning there is a...