ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
In the previous week, forex traders extended existing positioning trends. This consistency reveals an on-going confidence in the given trends. Where these changes are consistent with currency moves, traders seem indeed justified in the confidence. However, there are some cases where these positions are starting to run counter to potential shifts in currencies. I expect … Read more
(This is an excerpt from a LONG overdue article on commodities I originally published on Seeking Alpha on April 18, 2016. Click here to read the entire piece.) Last week was a great week for a pairs trade in iron ore. I love this trade => Oil, Iron Ore & Gold Correlation: A Mining Pair … Read more
“The Australian dollar has appreciated somewhat recently. In part, this reflects some increase in commodity prices, but monetary developments elsewhere in the world have also played a role. Under present circumstances, an appreciating exchange rate could complicate the adjustment under way in the economy.” – Statement by Glenn Stevens, Governor: Monetary Policy Decision, April 5, … Read more
The following data cover the latest from the CFTC’s Commitment of Traders as reported by Oanda from the week of Monday, March 21, 2016. From Oanada: “The Commitments of Traders (COT) is a report issued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). It aggregates the holdings of participants in the U.S. futures markets (primarily based … Read more
A bottom for the British pound just got more likely. The latest data from the CFTC shows that net speculators beat a major retreat from net short positions against the British pound: Source: Oanda’s CFTC’s Commitments of Traders The chart shows that speculators have not held such small net short positions since the surge began … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on March 8, 2016. Click here to read the entire piece.) On March 1, 2016, Glencore (GLNCY) announced its preliminary 2015 earnings results. During a media conference call, CEO Ivan Glasenberg declared a bottom for commodities. In the subsequent investor/analyst conference call, … Read more
The following data cover the latest from the CFTC’s Commitment of Traders as reported by Oanda from the week of from Monday, February 8, 2016. From Oanada: “The Commitments of Traders (COT) is a report issued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). It aggregates the holdings of participants in the U.S. futures markets (primarily … Read more
The U.S. jobs numbers for January, 2016 were good enough to send odds for the next rate hike from the U.S. Federal Reserve to jump across the scheduled meetings for 2016. Yet, the odds for December as the next month for a rate hike are still well under 50%. Source: CME Group FedWatch Although the … Read more
In its February decision on interest rates, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) issued a surprisingly upbeat and rosy assessment of economic conditions in Australia. Outside of mining, I daresay economic conditions look particularly promising: “In Australia, the available information suggests that the expansion in the non-mining parts of the economy strengthened during 2015 even … Read more
Australia’s Department of Industry, Innovation and Science recently released its latest Resources and Energy Quarterly. As usual, I was most interested in the projections for iron ore and the Australian dollar. The Department has been over-optimistic in the past about iron ore. This time around, the Department slashed forecasts in what sounds like another disappointing … Read more