Wall St bounces despite volatility October 4, 2011 THE Standard & Poor’s 500 brushed up against a bear market yesterday, but investors rushed in to buy technology and other beaten-down sectors and the index posted its largest gain in more than a week. The broad US market index has fallen nearly 18 per cent in the past four months, hurt by sluggish economic [...]
Bernanke fails to rule out QE3 October 4, 2011 IN A testimony to the US Congress yesterday, Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke largely rehashed language used in recent speeches, such as his address at the Jackson Hole symposium in August and his speech to the Economic Club of Minnesota on 8 September. However, forex market reactions leaned more on what the Fed chairman didn’t [...]
AUSSIE COULD FALL BEYOND EXPECTATIONS October 4, 2011 VISTING Australia on business I am astounded at the cost everything. For an American, Sydney is now as prohibitively expensive as Zurich. A simple cup of coffee and a mineral water cost more than $12 at any sidewalk café. The high cost of living is a testament to the Aussie’s strong appreciation over the past [...]
THE TIPSTER October 4, 2011 THE EU must be stoking the ire of the Bank of Japan at this stage. Euro-yen at 11-year lows is begging for intervention from the BOJ. Look to buy on dips to ¥100.60-70. Forex.com is currently quoting ¥101.19-¥101.23. Dollar-yen refuses to break out from between ¥78.00 and ¥76.00 finding the ¥76.00 level a firm support [...]
FOREX ANALYST PICKS October 4, 2011 FOREX STRATEGIST JOHN KICKLIGHTER My pick: Short euro-dollar and short Kiwi dollar-dollar Expertise: Fundamental analysis with risk management Average time frame of trades: 1 day to 1 week Though it took a little time, euro-dollar finally slipped below that substantial $1.3400 floor that represented the 2010-2011 mid-point. A forgiving stop at $1.3650 is warranted and [...]
Michael Lewis dissects Europe’s woes October 4, 2011 “THE Greeks not only have massive debts but are still running big deficits. Trapped by an artificially strong currency, they cannot turn these deficits into surpluses, even if they do everything outsiders want them to do. Their exports, priced in euros, remain expensive. The German government wants the Greeks to slash the size of their [...]
Salomon bond salesman to acclaimed author October 4, 2011 MICHAEL Lewis was born in New Orleans and educated at Princeton University and the London School of Economics. When he was twenty-four he started working at Salomon Brothers. Finding the experience preposterous he stumbled out three years later in 1988. His bestseller, Liar’s Poker is widely considered the book that defined Wall Street in the [...]
Boomerang: The Meltdown Tour October 4, 2011 IN HIS latest tour de force, Michael Lewis looks at “why Icelanders wanted to stop fishing and become investment bankers”, the reasons “Greeks wanted to turn their country into a piñata stuffed with cash and allow as many citizens as possible to take a whack,” and “why the Irish wanted to stop being Irish” and [...]
Banks and mining stock fall on fear over Greece and Asia October 3, 2011 BRITAIN’S top share index began the final quarter of 2011 on a downbeat note as investors trimmed positions in banks and miners on familiar concerns over Greece’s debt problems and worries about growth in Asia. A 2012 draft budget approved by Greece’s cabinet on Sunday predicted a deficit of 8.5 per cent of gross domestic [...]
Wall Street slumps to a 13-month low October 3, 2011 US stocks slumped in heavy volume to a 13-month low yesterday as investors dumped bank shares on fears that Greece’s worsening financial crisis could cause a large European lender to fail. Investors pegged losses to the sharp fall in Franco-Belgian financial group Dexia, which fell 10 per cent after a Moody’s warning about its liquidity [...]
