Submitted Aug 17, 2011|From forexblog.oanda.com

Now that the SNB has failed to live up to investors expectations of introducing the CHF to a new pegging system, there will be pressure on the Cbank to intervene in FX to weaken their currency as speculators again balk at the introduction of a fresh ...

Submitted Aug 16, 2011|From forexblog.oanda.com|1 comment

The market has already been forewarned that there will be no political end to the Euro-zone crisis from today’s tete-a-tete between Merkel and Sarkozy. Even with German officials insisting that Eurobonds were not on the agenda, a reluctant ...

Submitted Aug 15, 2011|From forexblog.oanda.com

A resemblance of calm has returned to this market after last week’s significant volatility. Traders are beginning to focus on Merkel’e and Sarkozy’s meeting tomorrow, where they seek a solution to the sovereign debt crisis and a plan for the EFSF ...

Submitted Aug 12, 2011|From forexblog.oanda.com|7 comments

What a week, and its only Friday morning. The market still has some data to chew on before one can sit back and figure what all this really means. The Central Bank thoughts and threats, swing’s in equities, and maybe the loss of a reserve currency. ...

Submitted Aug 11, 2011|From forexblog.oanda.com

It has been awhile since Cbanks have made investors so trigger happy. This week, the market did not even get time to digest the magnitude of Bernanke comments before rumor mongering forced risk to ‘go walk about’, pressuring policy makers to be at ...

Submitted Aug 10, 2011|From forexblog.oanda.com

Last week Japanese officials intervened in the markets in an attempt to dampen enthusiasm for the yen – this week the Finance Minister appears to be trying to talk investors into giving the currency a pass. “The movement (exchange rate gains) ...

Submitted Aug 10, 2011|From forexblog.oanda.com

Been there, seen that. It sums up the actions from both the Fed and Swiss authorities. The Fed’s pledges have left the CHF exposed to a market having the currency in its crosshairs. Unless the Fed is willing to intervene in the FX space and stop ...

Submitted Aug 9, 2011|From forexblog.oanda.com|4 comments

Despite the ECB having made good on its promise to tackle the Euro-zone debt crisis by widening its bond-buying program to include paper from Spain and Italy, the move so far is not enough to allay investors deep concerns, as seen by another night ...

Submitted Aug 8, 2011|From forexblog.oanda.com|3 comments

It’s done. S&P did what many had only thought they would do. Stripping the US of it’s AAA rating, citing a negative outlook, will provide another hit to an already fragile business and consumer confidence landscape. The US’s fiscal path and its ...

Submitted Aug 5, 2011|From forexblog.oanda.com

A week of stress and duress has the market seeing red. Five compact trading days that witnessed the US’s last minute signing off on a bill to avoid debt default, sidestepping the rating agencies, to ‘rogue’ Cbanks fruitless intervention efforts ...

Submitted Aug 5, 2011|From forexblog.oanda.com

What a performance by Central Banks this week? They are supposed to alleviate some of the market volatility, not add to it. The BoJ is a Central Bank gone rogue and intervening ‘not’ under the multilateral decision process, a decision that has upset ...

Submitted Aug 4, 2011|From forexblog.oanda.com

Two-year Treasury yields touched a record low of just 0.28 percent today in response to fears that the U.S. economy could be hurtling towards another recession. In New York the S&P 500 was down 2.6 percent in mid-day trading while the Dow shed 2.3 ...

Submitted Aug 4, 2011|From forexblog.oanda.com

If Trichet announces new measures this morning to ease liquidity conditions or buy Euro area bonds then we can reasonably assume that Central Bank action this week will have been coordinated. First, it was the Swiss easing monetary policy, then the ...

Submitted Aug 3, 2011|From forexblog.oanda.com|1 comment

The Swiss had to try something. Intervention has proven too expensive, so why not a surprise rate cut? The SNB loosening their monetary policy this morning (less than 0.25%) caught the market off-guard. Dealers had been focusing on the BoJ to be the ...

Submitted Aug 2, 2011|From forexblog.oanda.com|4 comments

The US Debt debate seems so long ago and it has not even passed the Senate yet! Capital market’s is already turning its focus away from the ‘deal’ to global economic deceleration concerns and this weeks jobs report. A US report this morning is ...

Submitted Jul 29, 2011|From forexblog.oanda.com|3 comments

Euro-sovereign debt fear is again dominating this mornings market. Moody’s has placed Spain’s Aa2 rating on review for a possible downgrade and has threatened to lower the ratings on four Spanish banks. Arguably not in the Greek boat just yet, ...

Submitted Jul 28, 2011|From forexblog.oanda.com|55 comments

In times of uncertainty, nervous investors historically tend to gravitate towards the CHF and JPY. Today, the CHF printed an all time high against the dollar (0.7990) on the back of Euro-contagion concerns and the US debt ceiling impasse. From a ...

Submitted Jul 28, 2011|From forexblog.oanda.com

With only a few days before the August 2nd deadline, any clear agreement on raising the U.S. debt ceiling is still not in sight. Both the Democrats and Republicans appear to be parked in their respective political corners, with the only thing they ...

Submitted Jul 28, 2011|From forexblog.oanda.com|11 comments

It’s time. Before yesterday’s session, the EUR seemed suspended in motion, confined to a tight trading range. Something had to give. If it was not the US debt stalemate, it had to be something of a Euro flavor. Along came the Germans. Finance ...