ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
When I wrote about the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) currency trap, the presumed intervention looked ineffective on balance. However, it appears the Bank of Japan has a multi-phased plan. Last week’s presumed intervention generated a fresh phase of weakness for USD/JPY (strength for the Japanese yen and Invesco CurrencyShares® Japanese Yen Trust ETF (FXY)). That … Read more
The year 2024 may be seen as the time the Bank of Japan’s “free lunch” came to an end. For decades, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) ran a zero interest rate policy (ZIRP) that even descended into negative rates in 2016. The BoJ eased and eased monetary policy (aka printed and printed) to buy Japanese … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: Sellers followed through with yesterday’s post-Fed selling. With losses across the board, market breadth dropped into oversold trading conditions. Yet, as I explained could be the case, the stock market looks uninteresting. Because the major indices are fresh off important breakdowns, substantial downside risk remains. Because the volatility index actually closed down … Read more
Last week’s geo-political drama had all the makings of an escalation to all-out war. A country incensed about the assassination of its top general lobbed missiles at airbases its enemy occupies in a neighboring country. Everyone braced for the typical response of attacking the sites that lobbed the missiles. With its borders breached by the … Read more
The economic data continue to worsen in Europe. While it is difficult to find signs of concern in U.S. markets, wariness is etched in a few key corners of financial markets. Precious Signals Notably, the precious metals gold and silver look ready for a fresh upward push. Gold and silver can perform well in times … Read more