Australian Dollar Slammed By Inflation Data – More Weakness Likely

On October 28, 2015 (Australian time), the Australian dollar (FXA) was slammed by Australia’s September, 2015 inflation data. Source: FreeStockCharts.com The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported a 1.5% year-over-year increase in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) for September. While inflation is still hovering above the lows for the post-crisis period, this is the longest stretch … Read more

The Canadian Dollar Ends Worst Week In Three Months: Spotlight on Economic Conditions and Monetary Policy

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on October 25, 2015. Click here to read the entire piece.) On October 21st, the Bank of Canada issued its latest statement on monetary policy. While the Bank of Canada (BoC) left interest rates unchanged, it slightly lowered its growth forecast over … Read more

The Simple Calculus for the Timing of The Fed’s First Rate Hike

“…I expect that inflation will return to 2 percent over the next few years as the temporary factors that are currently weighing on inflation wane, provided that economic growth continues to be strong enough to complete the return to maximum employment and long-run inflation expectations remain well anchored. Most FOMC participants, including myself, currently anticipate … Read more

It Is A Low Rate World – Get Used to It

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on September 24, 2015. Click here to read the entire piece.) {snip} After reading the actual speech by Andrew Haldane, titled ominously “How low can you go?,” I realized that the BBC had overly focused Haldane’s concluding remarks. I can understand the … Read more

The Appeal of the Canadian Dollar Continues to Recede

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on September 6, 2015. Click here to read the entire piece.) It is official…or at least technically official. Canada is in recession albeit by the slimmest of margins. {snip} Source: Statistics Canada Canada’s GDP is a story of two worlds. {snip} Source: … Read more

T2108 Update (August 25, 2015) – Sellers Maintain Control of the Stock Market

(T2108 measures the percentage of stocks trading above their respective 40-day moving averages [DMAs]. It helps to identify extremes in market sentiment that are likely to reverse. To learn more about it, see my T2108 Resource Page. You can follow real-time T2108 commentary on twitter using the #T2108 hashtag. T2108-related trades and other trades are … Read more

A Time To Sell Some Housing Stocks

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on August 19, 2015. Click here to read the entire piece.) I have spent a lot of time over the past four years touting the attractiveness of stocks in homebuilders. The ride has offered a lot of bumps along the way but … Read more

Australian Dollar Poised for A Bounce After Holiday Trading Overreacts to Economic Data

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on July 6, 2015. Click here to read the entire piece.) On Wednesday, July 1, 2015 the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released international trade data for May which suggested that April’s big plunge may have been quite an aberration. On a … Read more

The U.S. Dollar Remains Stuck After Anti-Climactic Jobs Number

The U.S. dollar index (USDX) remains stuck in its downtrend by a thread. Source: FreeStockCharts.com The long-awaited catalyst was the U.S. jobs report for July, 2015. In my opinion, the report shed no new light on the timing for a Fed rate hike. It was pretty much more of the same. The stalemate on the … Read more

The Canadian Dollar Pushes To Fresh Post-Crisis Low on Broadly Weak May GDP

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on August 3, 2015. Click here to read the entire piece.) Lost during last Friday’s alarm over U.S. wage growth was the report on May GDP for Canada from Statistics Canada. Canada reported its fifth consecutive monthly decline all but guaranteeing the … Read more