Signs of Improvement in US Economy

The US dollar has rallied against EUR, CHF, GBP and JPY in the forex market. US jobless claims rose to a two-month high last week (up 10,000 to 324,000), suggesting the pace of job growth is slowing...

Dismal US Housing Data

US housing starts fell for the first time (-2.1% vs -3.5% forecast) in four months during May, but building permits increased, a good sign for future construction. Starts...

Drifting Between Rate Cut and Rate Hike

Today's forex economic calendar is almost empty. With most market players pinning for the release of the US NAHB housing market index (expected to come in unchanged from month at 30) later on, the US dollar ...

Chasing Carry Trades in the Financial Markets

The US dollar did not get much help from today's inflation data. US consumer prices rose 0.7% (0.6% expected) in May at their fastest rate in almost 2 years on sharply higher energy prices but...

US Inflation is Well and Alive

US retail sales data for May surged at a rate more than double expected. Overall sales were up 1.4% versus an expected 0.6% rise. Sales excluding autos were up 1.3% vs an estimate of...

Nothing So Far to Pull USD Down

It is like the calm before a storm. Tight trading ranges ruled again today; it seems like most players are just too cautious ahead of key economic data to be released in the later part of the week. Yesterday, New Zealand stepped in to sell the Kiwi as a signal to...

Reserve Bank of New Zealand Intervenes in Forex

The only noteworthy event of today is a rare move of intervention by a central bank in forex. If you are thinking it's Japan, it's not. It's the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ). New Zealand Finance Minister Michael Cullen said today that the RBNZ intervened in the forex.....

Forex Universe Revolves Around USD

Financial markets around the world will be trembling, shaking next week - perhaps may even go bonkers (in either a good or bad way). The market sentiment on USD is extremely bullish at the moment, largely due to the jump in key...

Traders in a Rush to Dump US Bonds

Today's sharp moves in the forex market are a good example of how the fixed income market is linked to the forex market. Yesterday, yield of the US Treasury 10-year notes rose the highest in more than three years,...

Fed Chairman Bernanke Notes Ebbing Inflation

The US dollar hit a 3-week low against the Euro on remarks by Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke, which suggest that the Fed is now more comfortable with inflation levels. Bernanke notes a "gradual ebbing" of core...

Carry Trades Continue to Find Demand

Another day of profit for medium/long-term yen carry players. CAD/JPY and EUR/JPY rallied to record new levels on the carry ladder. USD/CHF and USD/JPY declined instead, as the sentiment on the USD remains bearish...

Commodity Currencies to Benefit

The US economy is not doing as well as it looks on the surface. People who spent time dissecting the payrolls data released on Friday noticed that even though there were a grand total of 157,000 additions to payrolls last month,...

US Economy Slowed to Weakest Pace in 4 Years

The US economy slowed to its weakest pace in 4 years at the beginning of 2007. Gross domestic product- a measure of all goods and services produced in the economy - rose at a seasonally adjusted 0.6% (0.8% expected) in the first-

Competing Forces Between Housing and Inflation

Fed policy makers kept their prediction of a pick-up in economic growth and said "downside risks"' to the expansion have "diminished slightly" in minutes of the May 9 Federal Open Market Committee meeting released yesterday. They also acknowledged they...

Another Massive Global Stock Sell-off

When China scratches its back, the world takes notice. Today, stocks all around the world suffered a massive drop after China tripled the tax on securities transactions, causing the biggest slump in the region's best performing equity market in 3 months. The CSI...