At last, a sign of good news in the economic data – the UK’s trade deficit is falling October 25, 2011 AMID the gloom that permeates most economic and financial commentary at the moment, a rather more positive development has become apparent over the past few weeks, but has received scant attention. When revised data were released for the second quarter of 2011, on 5 October, most analysis concentrated on the recent deceleration in the economy. [...]
It is a myth that there is no way to quit the euro October 25, 2011 IN 2010, the economist Barry Eichengreen wrote: “The decision to join the euro area is effectively irreversible.” That’s certainly the view of Europe’s politicians, busy again today with their latest plan to save the euro intact. They seem to think that any exit from the euro would bring chaos, not only to the exiting country [...]
Hooray for a decline in university applications October 25, 2011 UNIVERSITY applications are 12 per cent down on last year. Some are blaming the government’s lifting of the fee cap from £3,375 to £9,000 a year. Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, the trade union for lecturers, claims that this shows the increase to have been a “disaster from the start”. [...]
RAPID RESPONSES October 25, 2011 Define discussion Nick Clegg announced plans yesterday for a new law that will allow protected conversations between bosses and employees. This is a small step in the right direction. My firm advises employers all the time who are genuinely afraid of having frank discussions with their staff about retirement in case what they say is [...]
EU summit optimism won’t last for long October 25, 2011 FOREX conditions are choppy for euro traders, with yesterday’s moves indicative of the jittery markets. Upon the news that the Ecofin conference won’t take place, euro-dollar quickly dropped 0.6 per cent. Twitter feeds across the world were swamped with presumptions that the full emergency heads-of-government summit was also cancelled. Euro-dollar rebounded, as it became clear [...]
BET AGAINST YEN STRENGTH AT YOUR PERIL October 25, 2011 WHILE euro-dollar has taken all the spotlight recently, the yen quietly made a fresh post-war high against the dollar with dollar-yen dropping into the ¥75.00s last week. The move has elicited further cries of frustration from Japanese officials and some head scratching from speculators. The downward move in dollar-yen is especially surprising given the relatively [...]
THE TIPSTER October 25, 2011 IN RECENT days, dollar weakness has set in, allowing cable to recapture the $1.6000 level. But the gains to here seem to have come up against some resistance and volatility meaning the rally to this six week high could be coming to an end. Sellers crept into cable expecting that this trend would soon be [...]
FOREX ANALYST PICKS October 25, 2011 FOREX STRATEGIST JOHN KICKLIGHTER My pick: Short sterling-yen, Aussie dollar-dollar and dollar-Canadian dollar Expertise: Fundamental analysis with risk management Average time frame of trades: 1 day to 1 week The markets are at a crossroads. Risk appetite is pushing higher; but conviction is notably absent. Either risk trends will reverse or the markets will capitulate [...]
Bearish Aussie avoided by pandering to China October 25, 2011 THE Australian dollar has been trading around its six-week high this week, receiving a boost from encouraging data coming out of China – a country upon which its economy relies on heavily. At the same time, it has benefited from a strong commodity market. The Aussie dollar was trending around the $1.0400 area yesterday, but [...]
THREE STEPS FOR TRADING A BREAKOUT October 25, 2011 THE first step in trading a breakout is identifying support and resistance levels. These levels are identified by looking at the high and low of market price action over a specific time frame; intraday, daily, weekly, monthly or annually. A breakout occurs when the price of a currency moves above support or below resistance. A [...]