Helicopter Ben remains unafraid to press print April 30, 2012 THE question of whether we will see another round of quantitative easing (QE) from the US is one that is constantly being asked, especially after bad data, such as yesterday’s surprising ISM-Chicago manufacturing figures for April – showing the weakest growth rate in 29 months. Another massive pump of cheap cash into the US economy [...]
Analyst picks for 30 April 2012 April 30, 2012 CURRENCY STRATEGIST JOEL KRUGER My pick: Looking to sell euro-dollar Expertise: Technical analysis Average time frame of trades: 1 day to 1 week A closer look at the $1.3300 level shows a confluence of resistance, including the psychological barrier, some falling trend-line resistance off of the February 2012 peak, the upper Bollinger Band, and an [...]
A riot of flowers and fish in Gauguin’s paradise April 29, 2012 What’s in Bora Bora?” I asked a frequent visitor there. “Sharks – but in a good way”, was the answer. Did that justify twenty hours flying time to French Polynesia, I wondered. A few weeks later, swimming in a lagoon so blue it looked digitally enhanced and watching grey-tipped reef sharks, I had my answer. [...]
Fed stands ready to deliver QE3 if recovery stalls, Bernanke says April 25, 2012 THE FEDERAL Reserve “would not hesitate” to kick off yet another spell of monetary stimulus if it thought the US recovery required more assistance, its chairman Ben Bernanke said last night. “We remain entirely prepared to take additional balance sheet actions if necessary to achieve our objectives,” he told reporters in Washington DC. “So those [...]
Apple and Fed combine to boost equities April 25, 2012 US stocks rallied yesterday, with Apple’s surge giving the Nasdaq its biggest gain of the year, while the Fed chairman reassured markets that the central bank would do more if necessary to lift the economy. Apple fueled optimism that the current earnings season would be much stronger than expected, generating gains across all market sectors. [...]
THE TIPSTER April 24, 2012 The Australian dollar has come under pressure of late on concerns of a sharp slowdown in Chinese growth. The Aussie dollar has also fallen as the Reserve Bank of Australia has turned noticeably dovish. But support for the Aussie against the US dollar is coming in around $1.0230. With the interest rate cut now priced [...]
FTSE in modest rise as investors eye Fed April 24, 2012 The FTSE 100 saw a modest rally this morning led by banking and commodity stocks as investors looked for signs that the Federal Reserve will inject more liquidity into markets. London’s blue chip index was dented yesterday by uncertainty over who will be the next president of France, the collapse of the Dutch government and [...]
Analyst picks for 24 April 2012 April 23, 2012 CURRENCY STRATEGIST JOEL KRUGER My pick: Sell sterling-dollar at $1.6210 Expertise: Technical analysis Average time frame of trades: 3 days to 1 week The market has recently broken to fresh 2012 highs beyond $1.6000. This now likely opens additional upside, back towards the October 2011 peak by $1.6165 further up. While our core bias remains [...]
INSIGHT MARKETS April 23, 2012 CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST THE news of the French election, with the Socialist candidate creeping ahead of incumbent president Nicholas Sarkozy, had the predictable effect of unsettling the FTSE yesterday morning. Although yesterday’s falls have only taken it back to the levels seen around a week ago, it is beginning to seem as if a combination [...]
LONDON REPORT April 22, 2012 UK investors are set for a busy week with a slew of earnings both here and on Wall Street, the release of Britain’s quarterly GDP rate and a decision from the Fed on the US Bank rate. Both the Nationwide Housing Prices report and Nationwide Consumer Confidence report are due out this week and today’s [...]