A Mystifying Rate Cut By the Reserve Bank of Australia

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on May 7, 2013. Click here to read the entire piece.) Tonight (morning of May 7th in Australia), the Reserve Bank of Australia cut its interest rate to 2.75% whereas the consensus assumed that rates would stay steady at 3.0%. While the … Read more

Poor Employment Report Only Slows Australian Dollar’s Breakout

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on April 12, 2013. Click here to read the entire piece.) Last week, we learned that the Australian trade balance for February was much better than expected, -178M AUD versus expectations for -1B AUD and -1.2B AUD for January. Additionally, retail sales … Read more

Week of Major Currency Shifts Flips Me Bullish Australian and British Currencies

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on April 7, 2013. Click here to read the entire piece.) {snip} The market seemed to convulse on the notion that the Fed could actually end asset purchases but seemed to ignore the conditional of a much improved labor market and improving … Read more

The Reserve Bank of Australia Marginally Concedes To A Brighter Outlook

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on April 4, 2013. Click here to read the entire piece.) For many months, the Reserve Bank of Australia has been rolling out the same story of a peak in commodity prices, resource investment, and terms of trade. This month’s monetary policy … Read more

Fresh Unemployment Records Help To End The Rally In The Spain Index Fund

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on February 25, 2013. Click here to read the entire piece.) {snip} Last month, Spain’s unemployment rate reached Depression-like levels when it hit a record 26% and projections are for it to increase to 27% this year. {snip} EWP is up an … Read more

Poor Canadian Employment Numbers Bring Real Estate Back In Focus

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on April 5, 2013. Click here to read the entire piece.) {snip} This decline in USD/CAD abruptly ended today with a very poor Canadian employment report that was well below expectations. The unemployment rate ticked up from 7.0 to 7.2% as the … Read more

A Weakening Canadian Economy Needs A Weaker Currency

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on Feb 24, 2013. Click here to read the entire piece.) {snip} Source: FreeStockCharts.com {snip} In 2012, the yield curve for Canadian government bonds flashed a major warning signal. In particular, the gap between 2-year and 5-year bond yields fell dramatically from … Read more

Nikkei Finally Slides As Yen’s Recent Strength Gains More Momentum

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on April 2, 2013. Click here to read the entire piece.) {snip} The Japan-based ETF took an even bigger hit, falling 3.9% and almost wiping out all of March’s hard fought gains in one day: The highlights I read in one of … Read more

Homebuilding At the Crossroads Of Changing Demographics

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on January 21, 2013. Click here to read the entire piece.) On January 17th, NPR’s All Things Considered ran a story called “Homebuilding Is Booming, But Skilled Workers Are Scarce.” It was yet another story adding to the evidence that the tightness … Read more

2013 Forex Outlook: More of the Same for the British Pound

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on December 26, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) Most of the clues required for the British pound’s direction for 2013 are contained in the Bank of England’s last Inflation Report back on November 14, 2012. The British pound enjoyed … Read more