Opinion – Friday 6 April 2018

US stock markets continue to lead currency and interest rate markets by the nose. A third consecutive trading session of gains, on further reduced Sino-US trade tensions and now a recovery in the technology sector (the NYSE’s FANG+ index is up 1.5%) have been the...

Opinion – Thursday 5 April 2018

After Tuesday’s US tariff proposal announcement on $50bn of imports from China, early this morning China matched the US move by announcing tariffs of up to 25% on $50bn of US imports. The tit for tat response triggered a sell-off in risk assets, but this initial...

Opinion – Wednesday 4 April 2018

After initially trading in and out of positive territory, US equities have closed higher recovering some of the sharp losses incurred during the previous trading session. More Money Problems is still an issue for Amazon, but a late Bloomberg report helped sentiment...

Opinion – Tuesday 3 April 2018

The US market has returned after the Easter break for trading on Monday, trading in risk-off mode. The catalyst seems to have been the announcement on Sunday from the Chinese Ministry of Finance that it is increasing tariffs on up to 128 US products, higher tariffs on...

Opinion – Thursday 29 March 2018

US stocks have failed to recover any of Tuesday’s FANG-led weakness, in part due to a 5% hit to Amazon after President Trump’s latest verbal attack on the on-line retail behemoth demanding more regulation (and which will probably be followed in short order by European...

Opinion – Wednesday 28 March 2018

Yesterday’s trading session was one of two halves. European stocks benefited from the perceived easing in trade tensions (the recent Mnuchin ‘’we’re sitting at the table and negotiating’’ comments) that sparked the over 600 point rally in the Dow for the previous...

Opinion – Tuesday 27 March 2018

US equities rebounded yesterday and continued overnight boosted by cautiously hopeful comments from US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin over the weekend. The risk positive mood has seen the US Dollar weakened against most currencies while US Treasury yields are higher led...

Opinion – Monday 26 March 2018

AUD/USD closed (just) below 0.77 for the third time this week (and year) on Friday, despite the weak US dollar backdrop that saw US Dollar Index off almost half a percent on the day and over 0.8% on the week. Falling metals prices, with The LMEX Index now 8% off its...

Opinion – Friday 23 March 2018

Equity Markets went out of control yesterday after President Trump announced new import tariffs and investment restrictions on China fuelling fears of an imminent trade war. Although US equities were already under pressure, the news accelerated the sell-off. UST...

Opinion – Thursday 22 March 2018

The US Dollar is softer (hence Euro higher) and, following the conclusion of Fed chair Jay Powell’s inaugural press conference, bond yields are slightly lower. If one reason for this is the failure of the ‘’median’’ Fed dot for 2018 to rise from 3 hikes to 4, then...

Opinion – Wednesday 21 March 2018

US and European equities have edged higher, recovering some of Monday’s tech led loses, but Facebook continues to lose friends. Ahead of the FOMC later his evening, the US Dollar is a little bit stronger across the board and US Treasury yields are also a couple of bps...

Opinion – Tuesday 20 March 2018

European and US equities have come under pressure with the tech sector leading the decline. The technology led equity slump started during the Asian trading session early yesterday morning following reports that Apple has made significant investment in the development...

Opinion – Friday 16 March 2018

Coming into this week, I was suggesting that EUR/USD was more likely to test 1.23 than 1.24 given improved risk sentiment and greatly reduced fears that the Fed was set to lift its 2018 ‘’dots’’ at next week’s FOMC meeting, following the fall-back in average hourly...

Opinion – Thursday 15 March 2018

Market optimism has been dented following a string of news that provided cause for pause on the consensus view over the upbeat global growth outlook. US data disappointed, Draghi sounded dovish, the White House confirmed its intentions for more China sanctions, the UK...