Andrew Barnett - Founding Partner LTG GoldRock: "The US Dollar has risen sharply following the US Federal Reserve’s December statement that confirmed it has put the official cash rate up another 0.25% to 2.5% and it expects to put rates up another two times in 2019...
Facing the hardest contraction in four years during the third quarter of 2018, the Japanese economy is facing difficulties amid a weakening business outlook. Recently, the Japanese cabinet has been revising its growth forecast for the economy to the downside for 2018 and 2019 to 0.90% and 1...
Here we are, the last FOMC meeting of the year. According to the latest Bloomberg survey, the Federal Reserve is expected to lift short-term interest rates by another 25bps - which would bring the target band up to 2.25%-2.50% - to the highest level since March 2008...
Oil prices are back below their level at the OPEC + meeting. Brent Crude and WTI are currently trading at 58.66 and 49.09 respectively, approaching 58.10 and 48.50 short-term...
Cryptos rallied sharply on Monday, as many investors believe this is the end of the bear market. Bitcoin recovered from a 15-month low, jumping from around USD 3,200 to USD 3,583. Ethereum surged 15% to $96, while EOS rose almost 30% in less than 24 hours to hit $2.54...
Asian shares rose on Monday ahead of the US Federal Reserve Bank and Bank of England monetary policy meetings and China’s Central Economic Work Conference, where 2019 growth targets and policy goals will be mentioned...
Next year will see global deceleration and decline of the USD. To weaken the current strength of the greenback, there will be two critical inputs: the US Federal Reserve Bank will hike rates this week and again in 2019; the European Central Bank will shift bias further towards normalization...
The Australian and New Zealand dollar plunged on heavy selling pressures amid disappointing economic data from China. The Aussie fell almost 1% to 0.7160 against the greenback, the lowest level since early November, while the Kiwie gave up more 1.10% as it reached $0.6780...
Japan’s Q3 GDP fell 2.50%, its hardest contraction since June 2014. A sharp drop in October’s current account balance supported the gloomy picture. The Bank of Japan’s Q4 Tankan data confirms that business is heading downward...
Although UK Prime Minister May survived a vote of no confidence yesterday, which boosted the cable 1.58%, the pound is still in negative territory week-to-date (-0.33%). The March 2019 Brexit deadline remains, and the UK parliament is likely to reject the current withdrawal agreement...
The European Central Bank’s monetary policy statement, to be published at 1.45 pm today, is expected not to change rates. It is expected to end Quantitative Easing, bond purchases of EUR 15 billion per month. Further tightening is unlikely, as the Eurozone outlook is distressed...
Following Prime Minister Theresa May's postponement of the final vote on her Brexit deal on Tuesday, rebel members of the Tory party have now decided to challenge her leadership...
Hopes of a resolution to the US-China trade dispute appear brighter. US President Donald Trump's recent comment that talks with his Chinese counterparts are very productive, and the release of Huawei Technologies CFO Meng Wanzhou on bail, have given the markets some relief...
USD/INR surged to 72.49 on unexpected news that the Reserve Bank of India’s Governor, Urjit Patel, has resigned. Patel said it was for personal reasons, but clearly, friction between the RBI and government was the real reason. A caretaker has been named until a permanent replacement is named...
Lots of red in equity markets at the start of the week. Following America’s weak payroll and wage data for November (following weak German GDP and export data), markets have ramped concern over slowing global growth...
In its hardest contraction since June 2014, Japan’s economy is facing its second drop since the beginning of the year. Largest contributors to the drop are: the trade war between Washington and Beijing; Typhoon Trami that disrupted production and distribution channels; and a 6...
Just when you thought that US President Donald Trump could not mismanage trade policy or his administration any further, we get Huawei's chief financial officer being detained at a Canadian airport on a US extradition request...
German politics is in flux. The Grand Coalition of the CDU, CSU and SPD parties has weakened following regional elections in October that saw CSU leader Horst Seehofer having to step down. Now, Chancellor Angela Merkel's party, the CDU, is turning a new page...
Asian shares continue down, after Canadian authorities confirmed the arrest of Huawei Technologies’ CFO Wanzhou Meng on charges of violating the USA’s sanctions on exports to Iran. Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped by 1.91% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and China’s CSI 300 declined 2.47% and 2...
