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
The latest CFTC data on the Commitments of Traders (CoT) shows some important moves in the positioning of speculators. Australian dollar (FXA) While the price of iron ore plunged, bullishness on the Australian dollar (FXA) remained surprisingly strong. I am almost equally surprised to see this bullishness now in full scale retreat as iron ore … Read more
A week ago, the CFTC’s Commitments of Traders report revealed that speculators had ramped up net short contracts to highs unseen since at least 2008. These positions were accumulated ahead of announcements on monetary policy from the Bank of England and the U.S. Federal Reserve. Given the British pound soared through these events, I assumed … Read more
The Bank of England (BoE) has not raised interest rates since the Great Financial Crisis. During this time, there have been several inflation “scares” as inflation levitated well above the Bank’s 2% target. Through it all, the BoE stood resolute in choosing to see through the elevated inflation in order to avoid premature rate hikes … Read more
Now I understand better why and how the British pound (FXB) soared so much in the wake of the latest announcement on monetary policy from the Bank of England (BoE). Source: FreeStockCharts.com Going into last week’s monetary events, speculators increased their net short contract position to levels not seen since at least 2008. Source: Oanda’s … Read more
(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 T2108, see my T2108 Resource Page. T2107 measures the percentage of stocks trading above their respective 200DMAs.) T2108 Status: 53.9% T2107 Status: 65.4% VIX … Read more
The UK’s FTSE 100 remains a big post-Brexit winner. This headline from the Telegraph for January 10, 2017 says it all: “FTSE 100 records longest run of closing highs since 1984 as Brexit fears hurt pound.” The FTSE 100 was created in 1984. Never since that time has the index notched nine straight all-time highs … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on December 2, 2016. Click here to read the entire piece.) Before Thursday’s open for trading in the U.S. (December 1, 2016), the British pound (FXB) experienced another one of those “quick trigger” moves in reaction to Brexit-related headlines. I use “quick … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on November 14, 2016. Click here to read the entire piece.) {snip} These quotes came from Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England (BoE), in response to questions during the Q&A period of the November Inflation Report. I believe Carney reminded … Read more
(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
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on October 16, 2016. Click here to read the entire piece.) It looks like UK Prime Minister Theresa May will not be able to proceed with Brexit plans, hard or not, unchecked by other powers in the UK. The UK Parliament demanded … Read more