With our fingers on the pulse of the global markets, in this blog we offer commentary, news and reviews from our in-house traders and trainers regarding the markets and the events that influence them.
Out of the Woods
The non-farm payroll (NFP) figures a week ago did not suggest to me that we are out of the woods just yet. After strong numbers for several months on the spin, January’s low numbers weren’t significantly revised upwards and the numbers for February came in on the low side. This suggests that while growth in the world’s largest economy is continuing, it is not doing so at the pace set last quarter. This is two months of lower than expected jobs growth. Not the end of the world by any means, as it is only two months of data. Maybe the frozen...
read moreMy Top 3 Trading Apps
In a world where everyone is constantly on the move, I have found that apps on smart phones are a great way to constantly keep up to date with rates, charts and even the local currency rates when you’re overseas. Here are my top 3 trading apps at the moment: 1. XE Currency – This is extremely user friendly and easy to use. It offers the user live information on market rates as well as daily, weekly, monthly and even yearly charts on currency pairs. It’s extremely popular with over 20 million downloads worldwide. 2. Citi...
read moreMy Experience with the Forex Market by Olivia Rust
The forex market is something that has always held my interest and, as the New Year came, I decided that I would actively try to gain more knowledge about the foreign exchange market. My understanding of the industry has been very limited until recently. I attended a very interesting seminar with Mark Walas from Plan B Trading. I had done a lot of research about the industry via the internet and with every website informing me that they had the right strategy for me, being a complete novice, I can see how easy it would be to fall into these...
read moreHow I Started Trading by Mark Walas
The first time I bought shares in a company was in 1978, in a business in the IT industry. Six months later, I sold these shares and had a profit of more than 60% on my original investment. With an experience like that, it’s hardly any wonder that I continued investing in companies to profit from share price movements. I traded firstly in stocks and shares and then, as my confidence grew, in foreign exchange. It was most certainly exciting, Forex often moved more in a minute than a share did in a week. It also proved costly as, like many...
read moreTrading in progress for 2014
The first full week of 2014 has seen trading activity resume in full. Yesterday, we had the Bank of England and European Central Bank setting interest rate policies for their economies. The UK rates were held, with UK economic news generally continuing to support sterling. With the US economic growth powering ahead, it has to be reckoned that the Eurozone will eventually arrive at the party and benefit from this growth, in turn returning to growth. However, the Euro was under pressure yesterday as growth is lacklustre to say the least....
read moreTapering at last
The biggest talking point among traders for several months now has been “When will the FED start tapering?”. At least we know the answer now. Wednesday’s FED meeting announced a reduction in the amount of money being thrown at the market, reduced by $10bn a month from $85bn to $75bn. This really is a symbolic gesture. In the overall scheme of things, a reduction of $10bn a month being pumped into the US economy is neither here or there. The economic output of the US economy is well over $15,000bn and growing strongly. The...
read moreStalemate
We reach yet another stalemate as the dominance of the central banks in the currency markets continues after the latest FOMC meeting. The continued manipulation of interest rates through quantitative easing continues. A growing economy being primed by $85bn of money every month, or $1 trillion annually. The FED has on numerous occasions hinted at tapering, but keeps shying away from taking the plunge. It could signal a readiness to reduce the stimulus and avoid the continual back tracking by reducing the stimulus to $80bn a month. In the...
read moreHappy Landings as quantitative easing slows
A couple of weeks ago, helicopter Ben (a.k.a. Ben Bernanke) announced the Federal Reserve was going to slow down the rate at which it was printing money. The printing presses, known as quantitative easing were always going to stop at some point. The fact that so much notice was given shouldn’t have come as a surprise. But it jolted the market. In my view, we should look at the background to the announcement, which is a return to economic growth and a fall in unemployment. Over the past few months, the stimulus of billions of dollars...
read moreFarewell Mrs T
Much has been written and broadcast about the passing on of Margaret Thatcher. Her funeral took place whilst I was in the City of London working with some new traders. A couple of thoughts struck me through the day. Love her or loathe her, and much was broadcast to this end, I believe she was one of the best prime ministers to hold office last century. I agreed with much of what she accomplished, putting Britain back on the global stage and helping us feel proud of our nation. The protests were vile and distasteful, particularly for her...
read moreCurrency Wars
One of the trading themes for 2013 is likely to be the continuation of currency wars. Real or perceived, currency wars have existed for as long as I can remember. Whether a devaluation of an existing currency, or revaluation, currency wars cause seismic movements in exchange rates. The latest country to join the currency wars game is Japan, with the Japanese Yen losing value against all major currencies since elections a couple of months ago. The Bank of Japan, under political direction from the incoming government has agreed to raise...
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