Posts Tagged ‘investing’

Another volatile week as Central Bank hawkishness came to the fore. Traders had seen the Fed being Hawkish for sometime but last week was the turn of the BoE and ECB.   The ECB acknowledged inflation is not transitory and their comments moved in a far more hawkish direction. President Christine Lagarde declined to repeat…

The greenback continued its rise against all other majors after the Fed left the markets in no doubt that it was going ahead with its tightening plans. Asset purchases will be taken down to zero by next month, and a 25bp hike is fully priced into the March meeting. Furthermore, the market is now pricing…

All major currencies lost vs the greenback as risk off continued to dominate the week. Tech stocks that started reporting moved the Nasdaq sharply lower with Netflix reporting disappointing numbers. This move lower also moved Cryptocurrencies with it. The week ahead sees Tesla and Apple report.   Euro was weakened by dovish ECB comments even…

Strong US inflation and continued hawkish comments from the Fed failed to give any support to the USD as it sold off against all it’s major counterparts. US consumer inflation hit a 40 year high of 7% and Fed officials became more vocal for the need to raise rates. A march rise looks more certain…

With a slightly shortened week the markets started the year risk on as Omicron fears faded however with the Fed giving a more hawkish outlook stock indices suffered a deep pull back. Sterling was the strongest pair vs the USD, CAD made ground as Oil Prices appreciated back towards 80 USD. The hawkish tone was…

The week saw a slew of central banks reporting surprises. The Fed indicated that next year there will be up to 3 interest rate rises, followed by the Bank of England raising interest rates. Then the ECB reported in less dovish tones than the market expected Eventually it took a late sell off in stocks…

FX markets were mixed but the general theme of risk on returned as investors temporarily put Omicron fears behind them. Commodity currencies were strongest but moves seemed more corrective. the USD remained range bound vs European majors and Yen. With additional restrictions being introduced in the UK Sterling came under pressure but soon reversed as…

As further news and statistics on the newly discovered Omicron variant were being digested by traders Fed Chair Powell stirred up the markets further, by talking up faster tapering. Although early signs are the new variant is less severed markets remained risk averse preferring to wait for any news before looking to rally. The S&P…

Investor confidence collapsed as the news of the newly named Omicron Variant. World Heath Organisation warned that the variant has a large number of variants some of which have vaccination escape.   This new filtered through into risk assets which fell significantly on Friday. Crude Oil lost over 13% which affected the Canadian Dollar as…

The Euro fell last week, firstly weighed by ECB comments who  continued to push back the need for policy action but more importantly lockdowns across the eurozone began to become a more likely reality as Austria returned to full lockdown. Sterling had some respite being one of the strongest performers as continued expectations of a…

The week after the main Central Banks announced their interest rates a repricing of expectations took hold. The USD was once again the main winner as markets began pricing in an interest rate rise by June 2022 as inflationary pressures continue to build. US consumer inflation was the market driver as CPI moved to 6.2%…

Central banks pushed back against the markets hawkish interest rate expectations last week. RBA started the week and set the tone. While ending the yield curve control, any decision to raise interest rats in 2022 was called a complete overreaction. This pushed AUD to be the worst performer of the week. However the largest surprise…

The Euro ended the week as one of the worst performers as the post ECB rally faded. Markets see the Eurozone lagging other major central banks in reducing their stimulus plans and raising interest rates. Australian Dollar ended the week the strongest of the major pairs as the RBA stopped defending the yield curve and…

The US dollar drifted lower throughout the week continuing its negative correlation with risk assets. Optimism in risk assets meant the USD lost ground against commodity pairs such as NZD and AUD. Fed Chairman Powell spoke and he confirmed that the taper is coming with a base case start of November. We still see a…

The Yen selloff continued through the week as a broader risk on strategy was adopted which spilled over into USD pressure. With little economic announcements the market was left to it’s own devices and the continued strength in energy and commodity prices pushed the main commodity backed currencies higher.  The USD long term strength remains…

Despite a disappointing NFP on Friday the Dollar remained generally in control during the week. Yen lost across the board as treasury yields continued to rally. New Zealand dollar lost ground despite the RBNZ delivering its anticipated rate hike. Euro lost ground again as inflation pushed up to 3.4% YoY. Eurozone had expected higher inflation…

The USD gained across the board as stocks continued to falter. This led to a broader stronger greenback. NZD was the worst performer as further lockdowns due to rising COVID infections led to traders pushing back the chance of a rate hike from October to later in the year. The Canadian Dollar continued to gain…

The USD was mostly flat against European pairs as continued issues around gas supply and the risk of inflation muted any gains against the greenback. Yen was the largest winner as a hawkish FOMC meeting accelerated treasury yields. The Canadian Dollar was the weeks best performer helped in most by a continuing strong oil price,…

USD and JPY were the key winners as risk of sentiment in stock continued throughout the week. China’s Evergrande continued to worry equity markets with a risk off theme playing out throughout the week. Evergrande is China’s second-largest property developer by sales, and has managed to rack up some $300 billion in debts. Doubts are…