Daily trading commentaries

Trading commentaries and briefings from the leading FX specialists, market analysts, traders and dealers.

German and French shares set for a boost today

2 May 2012, Simon Denham, Capital Spreads
With European markets closed for business yesterday due to the May Day holiday, German and French shares are set for a boost in today's session.

A trans-Atlantic good-news story

2 May 2012, Michael Derks, FxPro
Positive stories on the economic front are relatively rare, with no fewer than ten of the EU’s 27 economies in recession and Australia’s central bank forced to cut rates by 50bp yesterday.

Currencies in a holding pattern; China’s “other” PMI contracts

2 May 2012, Andrew Timothy Robinson, Saxo Bank
Having seen the mildly bullish official China manufacturing PMI data yesterday, it was the turn of the HSBC equivalent today.

Surprise cut in Aussie rates

1 May 2012, Philip Ryan, Currencies Direct
In a surprise move over night the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has slashed interest rates after concerns over their own economic forecasts.

Sterling continues to sag

1 May 2012, Simon Smith, FxPro
Now that the UK has officially entered recession once again, the focus is on just when the economy is likely to crawl out of it again.

Tokyo annoyed by new yen strength

1 May 2012, Michael Derks, FxPro
Despite some aggressive easing measures undertaken over the past couple of months, Japanese policy-makers will no doubt be annoyed by the consistent strengthening of the currency.

50bp rate cut for Australian dollar

1 May 2012, Mark Deans, Moneycorp
There has been considerable reaction to yesterday's announcement that some people will have missiles installed on their roof as a defence against Olympic Games terrorism.

RBA catches markets by surprise

1 May 2012, Richard Driver, CaxtonFX
The Reserve Bank of Australia caught the markets by surprise in the overnight session by cutting the aussie interest rate by 0.50%, instead of the 0.25% reduction that was expected.

Sell in May and go away? Not yet…

1 May 2012, Simon Denham, Capital Spreads
Sell in May and go away? Not yet it would seem as yesterday’s sell off was one day premature for us to start claiming this age old adage is playing out.

RBA delivers a 50bp cut, more than the majority had expected

1 May 2012, Andrew Timothy Robinson, Saxo Bank
May Day holidays impacted activity in Asia but we had enough economic events on the agenda to keep us busy. Most importantly, the RBA slashed the Cash Rate Target by 50bp to 3.75 percent.

Australian dollar plunged overnight

1 May 2012, Mark Bolsom, Travelex
The Australian dollar plunged overnight close to November 2011 lows against the British pound after the Reserve Bank of Australia slashed interest rates by 50 basis points to 3.75%.

RBA boldness should be applauded

1 May 2012, Michael Derks, FxPro
Faced with an economy which is in recession and with inflation likely to be lower than expected, policy-makers rightly decided that financial conditions needed to be loosened considerably.

Brussels responds to Hollande’s growth demands

30 April 2012, Michael Derks, FxPro
Stung into action by mounting criticism that Europe needs a growth plan alongside the current unflinching commitment to perpetual fiscal austerity, Brussels appears to be mounting a counter-offensive.

Eurozone credit gets crunchy

30 April 2012, Simon Smith, FxPro
The latest M3 data releases by the ECB has further confirmed that we are seeing a fairly steady contraction in lending within the household sector, a trend which is only likely to get worse.