Simon Smith, Chief Economist, FxPro
Simon has over seventeen years experience of macro forecasting and investment strategy research. Prior to joining FxPro in May 2010, Simon was a consultant with Thomson Reuters, having spent four years as Chief Economist at Weavering Capital.
He has held economic and strategy positions with Standard & Poor’s, together with consultancy firms 4Cast and MMS International.
Simon holds an MSc. in Economics from the University of London and a BSc. from Brunel University.
Michael joined FxPro in May 2010 having been previously at Deutsche Bank, Rothschild and Schroders.
Michael Derks, Chief Strategist, FxPro
He is a multi-discipline investment and market strategist/economist with extensive expertise in FX, strategic and tactical asset allocation, fixed income, equities, property and alternative assets.
An accomplished economic and investment writer and researcher, Michael holds a Bachelor of Economics degree from Macquarie University in Sydney.
21 October 2011
At those times over the past couple of years when international investors feared that European prevarication risked the whole of the euro project descending into a financial vortex, it is to the Swiss franc that capital flows have invariably headed.
21 October 2011
The weekend summit of EU leaders is officially now nothing more than a weekend bonding session as all hopes of an agreement on the EFSF rescue fund have been dashed.
20 October 2011
Overnight, the Shanghai Composite index fell another 2% to its lowest level since March 2009. For the year-to-date, this index is down 17%, which is in line with the average drop of the major emerging bourses for the year thus far.
20 October 2011
There’s a fairly simple way to illustrate just how fractured the eurozone money market is becoming month-by-month. More banks are depositing cash at the ECB (for a 0.75% rate), than at the start of recent maintenance periods which run for one month and are the period over which banks have to meet their minimum reserves requirements (averaged over the period).
20 October 2011
As so often occurs during a crisis, a multitude of unforeseen forces are unleashed which end up making the situation much worse. Unfortunately, Europe’s sovereign debt and banking crisis is now resulting in numerous unintended consequences, especially in the commodities space.
20 October 2011
Expectation levels have certainly been raised by last weekend’s declaration at the G20 meeting that Europe needs to present a comprehensive plan for resolving its sovereign debt and banking crisis at this weekend’s EU Summit.
19 October 2011
The minutes of the October MPC meeting revealed that the members of the Bank of England rate-setting committee were all in agreement on undertaking a further GBP 75bln of asset purchases. This in itself is remarkable given that it’s the first time they have all been in agreement for 17 months.
19 October 2011
In many ways, the EU is stuck between a rock and a hard place ahead of this weekend’s summit. If it leverages the EFSF to provide sufficient firepower to stave off contagion fears, then France is almost certain to be downgraded as its triple-A rating crumples under the pressure.
18 October 2011
The jump higher in UK inflation to 5.2% should be the peak, albeit a fairly painful one, for both households and also the government, given that the September data is the benchmark for benefit (CPI) and pension (RPI) payments from next April.
18 October 2011
With the proposal to allow the EFSF to guarantee a percentage of new debt issued by Europe’s embattled sovereigns gaining increased traction, there is a growing and justifiable concern that it will seriously expose France’s AAA debt rating.
18 October 2011
After a spectacular run from a low of 0.9380 to yesterday’s high of 1.0380 (exactly ten big figures), the bears have reasserted their grip overnight. In early London trading, the Aussie is at 1.0150 after some aggressive hedge fund selling in New York.
18 October 2011
Now becoming apparent is the degree to which investors and traders have been abandoning the euro over recent weeks. According to the CFTC, euro shorts have been substantial over the past month; only in the second quarter of last year were traders more negative.
17 October 2011
After last week’s stronger US retail sales data, it is interesting to look at how the relationship between the US dollar and the strength or otherwise of domestic data has shifted.
17 October 2011
Europe got the blow-torch treatment from the rest of the G20 over the weekend, with international leaders emphasising that a comprehensive plan for resolving the eurozone sovereign debt and banking crisis must be delivered by next Sunday’s EU Summit.
17 October 2011
If the skies looked dreadfully dark throughout August and September then the investment weather has turned decidedly brighter this month. As Friday’s stronger-than-expected US retail sales figures showed, the US economy is not heading into recession any time soon.
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