Canada’s Poor Year of Employment Should Pressure Bank of Canada and Canadian Dollar

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on January 12, 2014. Click here to read the entire piece.) It looks like the Bank of Canada was indeed setting the groundwork for easing monetary policy when it sounded fresh alarms about the Canadian economy last year. The extremely weak employment … Read more

U.K. Shopping Spree Sends the Pound Soaring

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on January 17, 2014. Click here to read the entire piece.) The United Kingdom’s Office of National Statistics (ONS) reported retail sales today that suggest consumers went on a literal shopping spree in December, 2013. {snip} The ONS reported the most notable … Read more

Euro Continues 2014 Weakness As Inflation Drops Again, Unemployment Remains At Record

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on January 8, 2014. Click here to read the entire piece.) Weakness continues for the euro (FXE) as 2014 seems to be confirming expectations I have outlined in previous posts. On January 7th, Eurostat reported eurozone inflation dropped to 0.8% in December … Read more

The British Pound And Euro Surge Despite Higher U.S. Rates

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on December 30, 2013. Click here to read the entire piece.) On Friday, the U.S. 10-year Treasury bond yield hit 3.0%, matching a high for the year. Rate are rising again across the yield curve. Source: St. Louis Federal Reserve This steady … Read more

A One-Chart Reminder Of the Market’s Obsession With Fed Tapering and Tightening

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on December 12, 2013. Click here to read the entire piece.) Last Thursday (December 12, 2013), U.S. initial jobless claims came in at 368,000. This number was above “expectations” and above the on-going declining trend in the 4-week moving average. {snip} Source: … Read more

Canadian Dollar Extends Weakness As the Bank of Canada Sounds Fresh Alarms

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on December 3, 2013. Click here to read the entire piece.) {snip} Source: FreeStockCharts.com The Bank of Canada was consistent with the change of tone from late October’s downgrade of the Canadian economy. In particular, inflation retreated further away from target: {snip} … Read more

Australian Dollar Left Hanging for the Year, But What About Foreign Debt?

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on December 3, 2013. Click here to read the entire piece.) {snip} Source: FreeStockCharts.com After Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Glenn Stevens reminded the market that currency intervention remains in the toolkit for currency devaluation, I half-expected some semantic fireworks in … Read more

British Pound Breaks Out As GDP Further Confirms Momentum of UK Recovery

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on November 26, 2013. Click here to read the entire piece.) Third quarter GDP for the United Kingdom grew 1.5% year-over-year and 0.8% quarter-over-quarter. These numbers met economist “expectations,” yet the British pound soared in response anyway. This rally is important as … Read more

The Coming Upward Pressure On Mortgage Rates In 2014

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on November 26, 2013. Click here to read the entire piece.) On Monday (November 25, 2013) the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported a fifth straight month of declining pending home sales. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun projects that 2013 will end … Read more

Canadian GDP Surprise Not Likely to Change Outlook

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on November 4, 2013. Click here to read the entire piece.) Last week, Statistics Canada reported year-over-year GDP growth of 2.0% for August, 2013 which beat analyst expectations of 1.7%. This growth translated into a 0.3% month-over-month increase. July delivered 0.6% growth … Read more