ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
The British pound continues to validate my bearish outlook on the currency. The recent break below the 50-day moving average (DMA) continues to generate lower prices versus the U.S. dollar. A fourth retest looms of support that has held for over a year. I am doubtful it will hold up yet again given the last … Read more
This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on November 15, 2011. Click here to read the entire piece.) Ever since the Bank of England announced more quantitative easing in the form of £75B of more bond buying, the British pound has bottomed and rallied against the U.S. dollar and … Read more
On July 24, British Business Secretary Vince Cable was interviewed on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show. During this interview, Cable made the case for further quantitative easing (QE) if consumer demand in the UK continues to weaken. While he was quick to point out that the Bank of England runs independently, he provided a ringing … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha. Click here to read the entire piece.) Almost a month ago, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King spoke at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet for Bankers and Merchants of the City of London at the Mansion House, and I wrote afterward that the … Read more
On June 15, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King spoke at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet for Bankers and Merchants of the City of London at the Mansion House. The speech covered very familiar themes for King and the Bank of England. King first acknowledged the squeeze on the economy in the United Kingdom: “The challenge … Read more
What has changed in the two months it took for silver to stampede its way up $15 (a 43% gain) and back? Did the Federal Reserve raise rates? Did the Federal Reserve threaten the market with rate hikes? Did the housing market rebound sharply, generating an expectation for higher rates? Did inflation expectations adjust sharply? … Read more
After scanning through the latest quarterly release of the “Statement of Monetary Policy” from the Reserve Bank of Australia, I was reminded that currency traders are trying to prepare for eventual rate hikes from the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BoE): “While financial markets continue to expect the US federal funds … Read more
Ahead of last week’s big events, I suggested that the market was setting up for a surprise reaction. So far, the biggest surprise has been the timing of the market’s big rally reaction after the election and the Federal Reserve’s announcement of quantitative easing and before the unemployment report. But that is not the surprise … Read more
Last month, as the British pound hovered around the converging support of the 50-day moving average (DMA) and the 200DMA, I noted that the currency “awaited a catalyst” before starting a new trend versus the U.S. dollar. At the time, I suggested that catalyst depended more on dollar-related forces. Sure enough, the dollar index followed … Read more
“It’s the main question that keeps me and my colleagues at the MPC up at night. That’s why in our last set of forecasts….we stressed there are upside risks. The slack in the economy is not pushing down on inflation the way we’d like…core inflation is higher in the UK; it’s not dragging down like … Read more