EURO RETREATS ON SOVEREIGN DEBT WORRIES March 8, 2011 DIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT JUST as euro-dollar broke through the key $1.4000 level on anticipation of an upcoming European Central Bank (ECB) rate hike, Moody’s downgraded Greece, bringing the rally to a sudden halt as sovereign debt fears returned to the currency market. On Monday, Moody’s reduced Greece’s sovereign debt rating by three notches [...]
Europe’s tale of two currencies couldn’t be more different March 8, 2011 PARTS of Geneva may now be starting to look like Fulham as bankers and fund managers flee there to celebrate the manyfold merits of the UK’s 50 per cent income tax rate. The Swiss treasury, probably progressive taxation’s biggest champion, had also seen its franc strengthen. Its status as a haven currency was recently underlined [...]
GET TRADING EDUCATION ON A SHOESTRING March 8, 2011 CONSULTING ANALYST, INTERTRADER I RECEIVED a phone call from a guy who wanted help with his trading. He had spent nearly £15,000 on trading education with a well known educational trading establishment. Yet he was nowhere closer to making trading his chosen career than he was before, despite his sizeable investment in trading education. I [...]
FOREX ANALYST PICKS March 8, 2011 FOREX STRATEGIST JOHN KICKLIGHTER My pick: Short Aussie dollar-dollar, Long dollar-Swiss franc Expertise: Fundamental and Technical Analysis with Risk Management Average time frame of trades: 1 day to 1 week Opposing views on the yen with my long dollar-yen and short euro-yen tripped a first target on the first and stop on the second. The [...]
THE TIPSTER March 8, 2011 EUROPEAN officials are preparing to announce a comprehensive solution to the “peripheral problem”, with an expansion of the existing European financial stability facility (EFSF). Given the market focus on the issue, it is likely that a large proportion of market participants are speculatively short on the euro as a hedge against default risk becoming market [...]
Risking the City: the economist who sees no future in political meddling March 7, 2011 LONDON will be… an excellent market for rottweilers, wire mesh and tattooed thugs. Docklands in particular will revert to its 1970s squalor, albeit with some very expensive buildings scattered around… [G]iven the crippling burdens under which British citizens already live, London’s downturn has a fair chance of tipping the economy over into national bankruptcy.” This [...]
Insurance companies all under one umbrella March 7, 2011 THOSE hoping for huge short term gains to be had from shorting companies with significant underwriting and re-insurance exposure to either the Middle East and north Africa (MENA), or to Christchurch may be disappointed. Listed companies are understandably cagey about just how much exposure they have to those areas, and syndicates with underwritten liability are [...]
FED CARRIES ON WITH QE REGARDLESS March 7, 2011 CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT EQUITY markets are attempting to shrug aside the civil unrest taking hold across north Africa and the Middle East. Yet the attendant rally in crude oil has taken both Brent and WTI contracts well above $100 per barrel, and this is not looking like a temporary phenomenon. Despite this, stocks rebounded [...]
Hedging your portfolio with CFDs March 7, 2011 IF YOU don’t already, perhaps you should consider hedging your portfolio with contracts for difference (CFD). Provided you have enough time to actively manage your positions and are familiar with their workings, CFDs are worthy of some serious consideration. For many investors, the idea of using leverage to hedge is enough to put them off [...]
THE TIPSTER CASHING IN ON UNREST March 7, 2011 THE satellite telecoms operator Inmarsat has suffered on the back of poor fourth quarter earnings, but increasing concern over the potential for unrest to spread further still through the Middle East and north Africa stands to keep the company’s services very much in demand. The downturn could therefore prove to be somewhat short-lived and profit [...]
