Daily FX: Analyst picks August 19, 2013 CURRENCY STRATEGIST CHRIS VECCHIO My pick: Long dollar-yen, short euro-dollar Expertise: Fundamental and technical analysis Average time frame of trades: A few hours to a few weeks Last week I was beginning to look at the dollar long against the euro and yen, but neither trade got off the ground. Now, attention turns to the [...]
London Week Ahead: All eyes on UK GDP and Fed’s minutes August 18, 2013 TRADERS will get a better glimpse into the British economy this week when a further estimate of second quarter economic growth is published at the end of the week. The Office for National Statistics will give a revaluation of the 0.6 per cent advance it recorded between April and June this year on Friday, with [...]
Letters to the Editor – 19/08 – Arts versus science, Best of Twitter August 18, 2013 Arts versus science [Re: Why you can bank on the humanities to launch a City career, Friday] I have mixed feelings about this editorial. I agree that banking employees should have a well-rounded education. And coming as I do from a quantitative background, I admire those who have been trained in the art of “peaceful [...]
US labour costs rising faster than productivity August 16, 2013 Productivity per non-farm worker in the US increased by 0.9 per cent in the second quarter, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This beat expectations of a 0.6 per cent increase and a vast improvement from a downwardly revised 1.7 per cent fall the quarter before. However, productivity was unchanged year-on-year. Paul [...]
Markets in turmoil over taper fears August 15, 2013 ■ Mixed US data leads to new fears over when Fed will start tapering stimulus ■ Dollar dives from one week high as uncertainty stalks trading desks ■ FTSE 100 suffers worst day in almost two months after retail sales rise GLOBAL markets were sent reeling yesterday, as strong US economic data reignited [...]
Letters to the editor – 16/08 – Land prices, A-levels, Best of Twitter August 15, 2013 Land prices [Re: UK needs to stop deliberately inflating residential land prices, yesterday] A study on Hong Kong showed that, even in that extreme example, a substantial share of house prices is explained by building restrictions, not a genuine shortage of land. Physical scarcity of land is mostly a theoretical possibility. There are hardly any [...]
Today’s key US news from the Live Blog August 15, 2013 Speaking earlier today, St Louis Federal Reserve president James Bullard said the Fed would need more data before it could make a decision about whether or not to taper off the asset purchasing programme. Well he certainly received lots to ponder. Perhaps the most important figure was US initial jobless claims, which fell nearly to [...]
S&P and Dow Jones sell-off follows tapering fears August 15, 2013 US share indices have followed the path of Treasuries as investors sell from fear of an imminent tapering of the Federal Reserve's asset purchase programme. A reduction in the number of people signing up for unemployment benefits and the number of people currently on them at the start of August suggests that official unemployment figures [...]
US manufacturing conditions improve less than expected August 15, 2013 The US Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said manufacturing activity grew by less than expected in July The survey index fell to 9.3 from its two-year high of 19.8 seen the previous month. Analysts had predicted to see an index reading of 15.0. Earlier today, the Fed announced that industrial production remained unchanged over the [...]
Homebuilder confidence beats expectations August 15, 2013 Confidence among US housebuilders rose unexpectedly in August, according to data from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The NAHB’s housing market index measures home sales and expected home building in the future, and rose to 59 from 56 the month before. Analysts had expected to see a slight fall to 56. Paul Diggle, [...]