Opinion – Thursday 15 August 2013

The focus yesterday was on the first release of the second quarter Euro-Zone GDP numbers which were somewhat better than expected. For the Euro-Zone as a whole GDP growth returned, rising 0.3% which was a little ahead of the 0.2% expected and the first quarterly...

Opinion – Wednesday 14 August 2013

The USD/JPY has held on to the gains it made yesterday with the Nikkei closing up 1.3% this morning after PM Abe asked for a study look at how Japan might lower the Corporate Tax rate. European Equities continued to outperform the US Stock markets after a better than...

Opinion – Tuesday 13 August 2013

US Stocks ended yesterday pretty much unchanged after a mixed trading session whilst European Equity markets continued their theme of out performing the other main indices. This theme has continued this morning with the Nikkei higher by 2.6% as the Yen weakens on news...

Opinion – Monday 12 August 2013

The ‘softer equities, stronger bonds, weaker US Dollar’ theme that has been evident since last Tuesday persisted into the weekend. The main US Indices ended with losses of between 0.25% and 0.5% with 10 year Bond Yields down 2 basis points to 2.58%. There...

Opinion – Friday 9 September 2013

Market sentiment ended the day better after the stronger than expected trade data out of China, with good signs for the future in the detail, which helped boost Commodity prices. In particular, stronger exports to Europe and America were taken to be a tailwind for the...

Opinion – Thursday 8 August 2013

The US Dollar was mostly on the back foot recently, not so much from dollar-specific negatives but more a mix of factors strengthening other major currencies. Yesterday it was the turn of Sterling to step up to the plate as new BoE Governor, Carney, in his first press...