FOREX TRADING

The risk averse sentiment remained intact, a barometer of that (VIX index) rising to a fi ve-month high. Eurozone concerns dominated, a Belgian newspaper reporting that the EC and ECB were working on contingency plans in the event Greece exited the group. German FM Schauble opined the crisis could run

It was a jumpy open for currencies, with the aussie pushing towards a support level around 0.9800 against the dollar, before reversing course and smashing through a resistance level around 0.9850. Equity markets in Asia are also on the rise after a big sell-off on Friday, with the ASX200 and

The US dollar continued to thrive through the course of last week as heightened anxiety from the Euro region forced a global bid for safety. This cautious positioning remained the key theme on Friday at the expense of the Euro, Sterling and commodity bloc currencies with Spain and Greece once

The G8 Summit achieved very little in public which was no real surprise, but there was also an apparent lack of urgency surrounding the Euro-zone situation which was a much greater surprise given a sharp deterioration in the financial sector last week. Where was the urgency for fresh action to

QE3 seems to have more lives that a cat; it comes back into the forefront of the U.S. economy discussion every time there are concerns that economic growth is faltering or potential threats become more than potential, like the recent chapter in the Greek tragedy.

Today, with the economy growing, albeit

Global economic concerns ratcheted up this week. Fears that Greece will soon leave the euro zone rose as the country’s unstable politics undermine its economic reform process and a shrinking deposit base threatens its banks. Beyond the Hellenic Republic, Spanish banks faced rating downgrades, the euro remained under pressure and

It was a pivotal week for the Eurozone after Greece announced that it was heading back to the polls after the top three parities failed to form a coalition government. So now Greece is leaderless, there is a caretaker government in place but it won’t be able to enforce the

The all-items Canadian CPI rose 0.4% in April, matching the increase in each of the previous three months, though slightly stronger than the 0.3% expected by markets going into the report. The monthly rise was modestly stronger than the 0.3% gain recorded in April 2011, resulting in the year-over-year rate

The Facebook IPO today has temporarily knocked Europe from the headlines as the world’s eyes are focused on the Nasdaq at 1430 GMT/ 0930 ET when Facebook will start trading for the first time. CNBC anchors have been wearing honorary hoodies to mark the occasion so it must be big.

As the end of this week approaches, markets started to correct some of the losses incurred through the week, where investors started to close their bearish positions ahead of the coming week, before the G8 summit, which is taking place in the U.S, the thing that supported the euro to

In a race for downgrades, rating agencies took action targeting the two most burdened countries in the EMU. Moody’s confirmed today a rumor about the downgrade of 16 Spanish banks after having downgraded four Spanish regions, which added more pressure to the the Spanish economy. The increase in risk was

Safe-haven plays were again the dominate theme heading into Europe after Far East equity markets slumped between 1-3%. The German 2-year, 5-year, 10-year and 30-year bonds are all at record lows as was the UK 10-year Gilts. The USD Index again hit fresh 4-month highs. The sentiment improved marginally as

Spain sold the maximum targeted amount of debt, 2.5 billion euros, during yesterday’s auction with spiking borrowing costs. The interest rate of three-year bonds rose to 4.373% from April’s figure of 2.89% while interest rate of five-year bonds surged to 5.106% from 3.374 in March. Meanwhile, yields of 10-year sovereign

Market sentiment is highly bearish across the board as Moody’s investor services confirmed the downgrade of 16 Spanish banks, and Fitch downgraded Greece yesterday from B- to CCC. The degradation of the rating should not have impacted because Greece was already considered junk at its previous level. Safe haven USD

As this week has come to an end, negativity seems to be deepening in markets, where the sentiment continued to deteriorate after Fitch downgraded the Greek credit rating by one notch, while Moody’s cut the ranking of 16 Spanish banks, the thing that sent European main equities to 2012 fresh