Opinion – Thursday 11 April 2013

We had lively markets yesterday encouraged by the early release of the March FOMC Minutes following a premature release to Congress. Although there was arguably something for everyone in the Minutes the fact was that the message had most likely already been diluted by...

Opinion – Wednesday 10 April 2013

US Equities continue to trade higher with the S&P closing up 0.4%, with risk appetite stronger and the US Dollar generally lower across the board. The Yen has been less of an influence on global currency markets over the last 24 hours, although the Yen is...

Opinion – Tuesday 9 April 2013

There is still a major focus on the Japanese Yen which has continued to weaken and hit a high of 99.60 overnight versus the US Dollar. Since the BOJ meeting last Wednesday the Yen has weakened from 92.50, an incredible 8% in three days. Yesterday, equities recaptured...

Opinion – Monday 8 April 2013

After some trepidation about forecasts for Friday’s Non-Farm Payrolls Report, in the wake of the weaker than expected ADP Report and a rise in the Jobless Claims, most of the report underwhelmed the market on its release. Payrolls notched up a disappointing 88k...

Opinion – Friday 5 April 2013

Markets remained subdued yesterday due to a combination of some disappointment after the ECB meeting and the soft economic data in Europe and the US. Meanwhile the Japanese Yen has continued to weaken further after the BOJ meeting. As expected there was no policy...

Opinion – Thursday 4 April 2013

Equity and commodity markets both lost ground yesterday after US Jobs and Services data both came in below expectations. The US ADP Employment Report showed a 158k increase in March versus the 200k expected and poses some risk to tomorrow’s 195k forecast for Non...