As I turn on the currency screens this morning, I see that the euro (EUR) is higher than it was yesterday morning, but lower than it was mid-day yesterday, as the single unit rallied to 1.2850 yesterday, only to see that figure slip slidin’ away, and then watch it rise again…
[Read more...]US Jobless Claims Hit 500,000
August 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment
The dollar was still stuck in a rut through most of yesterday’s trading, in spite of a weekly jobs report that showed jobless claims climbed to 500,000. But Bundesbank head Alex Weber dropped a bomb on the markets late yesterday and sent the euro (EUR) running for cover. The euro has fallen over one cent in early trading and is in danger of losing the $1.27 handle for the first time in a month. More on the euro in a sec, but first let’s review the jobs data, which dominated the news yesterday.
[Read more...]The Two Divergent Views of Currency Market Investors
August 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment
The weekly jobs numbers released yesterday morning showed 25K more people signed up for unemployment last week than the week prior. The number of continuing claims declined slightly, but remains above 4.5 million. The data confirms what everyone outside of CNBC has been saying for quite a while; this is a ‘jobless recovery’ (if you can even call it a recovery!) What growth we have had has been spurred by government spending, the private sector just isn’t expanding, and won’t probably expand for some time.
[Read more...]Risk Off as US Data Disappoints
August 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Yesterday was another busy day on the desk; it seems like investors are finally figuring out that in spite of the uncertainty in the markets, there are still some good opportunities. But while the flow of trades increased yesterday, the currency markets took a breather from their torrid pace on Monday.
[Read more...]New Home Sales Ignite a Risk Asset Rally
July 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Yesterday morning I told you that the currencies, for the most part, were flat… That didn’t last too much longer… The US printed what the media and markets thought was a fabulous New Home Sales report, and the rally in risk assets was “onâ€�! With stocks and currencies in rally mode, gold and silver backed off… I’ll talk about that trading theme we’ve seen lately in a minute, but first… Let’s talk about the housing data…
[Read more...]US Data Beats Estimates… Economic Outlook Still Bad
July 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Judgment day has arrived for Euro banks
I will start off this morning’s Pfennig with a note from Chuck who is wrapping up his presentations at the Agora Financial Investment Symposium in Vancouver. Chuck will be flying home later this morning, but sent me the following last night before turning in:
[Read more...]Canadian Rate Hike and Oil Price Boost the Loonie
July 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment
We had some pretty unsettled weather come through the area, yesterday, with the lightening and thunder producing quite a show. The currency markets, on the other hand, were quite stable. The biggest gainer was the yen (JPY), and the largest loser was the euro; but neither moved more than 0.65% versus the US dollar… Tight ranges across the board for the currency markets.
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How Will Census Workers Affect the Jobs Report?
It was a ping-pong day for the currencies, back and forth over the net… The net being the “level of the dayâ€�… For instance, the Aussie dollar (AUD) played over the 91-cent net all day, and the euro played over the 1.2820 level all day.
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