Looking into the Fed’s crystal ball June 21, 2011 CHARLES SCHWAB LIZ ANN SONDERS We believe monetary policy is largely on hold for the near to medium-term. It’s unlikely the Fed will begin to let its balance sheet shrink; as such, “QE 2.5” – reinvesting proceeds from maturing Treasuries to maintain the level of its balance sheet – would be considered a go once [...]
FOREX ANALYST PICKS June 21, 2011 FOREX STRATEGIST JOHN KICKLIGHTER My pick: Long sterling-Swissie, short Kiwi-dollar and Swissie-yen Expertise: Fundamental analysis with risk management Average time frame of trades: 1 day to 1 week Last week’s short euro-dollar setup with a $1.4300 breakout worked out well; but without a $1.4000 break the trend dried up. I’ll keep an eye on this [...]
China makes the very best of neighbours for Australia June 21, 2011 WHILE Australia’s first stock exchange officially opened in Melbourne in 1861, some 10 years after the start of the Gold Rush, the national Australian Stock Exchange was not established until more than 100 years later, in 1987. But ASX Group, current owner of the entity created by the merger of the Australian Stock Exchange and [...]
HKEx: a global IPO hot-spot June 21, 2011 THE Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx) is Asia’s third largest exchange in terms of market capitalisation, after Tokyo and Shanghai. It was first established in 1891, although informal exchanges were taking place in Hong Kong for some thirty years previous to that date. Nowadays, the exchange has become well-known for attracting big international companies – [...]
A HAVEN OF FREE TRADE SHOWS THE WAY TO CHINA’S OPENING MARKETS June 21, 2011 HEAD OF PRODUCT, BARCLAYS STOCKBROKERS THIS week takes us to Asia-Pacific; to Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore. All three offer investors access to China but none more so than Hong Kong. FRAGRANT HARBOUR Hong Kong is Asia’s second largest exchange by market capitalisation and was formed in 1980 by a merger between the Far East [...]
Banks and commodities fall as Greek debt crisis lingers June 20, 2011 BANKS and commodity stocksdragged Britain’s top index lower yesterday, as Greece’s lingering debt crisis looks likely to stall the FTSE’s progress near-term, analysts said. Investors reacted negatively after European finance ministers postponed a final decision on extending a further €12bn in emergency loans to Greece. The International Monetary Fund weighed in, saying it needed to [...]
Wall St closes up on weak volumes June 20, 2011 US stocks rose yesterday, as the latest development to reduce Greece’s debt helped draw buyers and the S&P 500 touched a key support level, but anaemic volume signalled the recent weakness may not be over. Stocks erased early losses as the S&P 500 dipped toward 1,259.78, its 200-day moving average, which is often viewed as [...]
Lessons from the past June 20, 2011 WITH Greece teetering on the precipice, and Greek default not being a case of “if” but “when”, traders will be looking to pile in when the crash happens. But can you look at past financial crises to predict the future? Geoffrey Wood is professor of economics at Cass Business School and a former special adviser [...]
OIL PULLBACK BRIGHTENS A GLOOMY VISTA June 20, 2011 THE equity market sell-off which began in May has seen most major global stock indices break below significant technical support levels. The S&P 500 and Russell 2,000 are now both trading near their 200-day moving averages (MA). For the S&P, this comes in at 1,260, with a break below here suggesting a test of 1,246 [...]
Relaxed? Now, let us discover your trading persona June 20, 2011 EVERYTHING about trading is different when you have your own money on the line,” says IG Markets’ David Jones. “Far too many people think they need to find a magic trading formula, but really their time would be better spent learning from their mistakes.” Indeed, Amplify Trading’s Will de Lucy trains his traders to do [...]