Step Aside British Pound, The Japanese Yen Is Back As the Safety Currency Of Choice

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on May 20, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) I have written about my skepticism regarding the British pound’s newly found “safe haven” status (for example, see “Hard Currency: My Reactions To The Financial Times’ Promising Podcast“). During my last … Read more

Bearish Implications of A Rare Convergence of Extremes in Yen vs S&P 500 Correlations

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on April 9, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) In tweets and various posts, I have harped on the renewed strong relationship between yen strength and market weakness. In “Weakness in the Japanese Yen Is Over for Now, Part Two“, … Read more

Weakness in the Japanese Yen Is Over for Now, Part Two

A month ago I declared the weakness in the Japanese yen had ended. At the time, the U.S. dollar versus Japanese yen currency pair, USD/JPY or the inverse ratio in the Rydex CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust (FXY), had slipped for three days in a row. I turned out to be about a week too early … Read more

T2108 Update – April 3, 2012 (Traders Eye May for An Excuse to Sell)

(T2108 measures the percentage of stocks trading above their respective 40-day moving averages [DMAs]. 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 posted on twitter using the #120trade hashtag) T2108 Status: 55% VIX Status: 15.7% … Read more

Weakness in the Yen Is Over for Now

Almost two weeks ago, I underlined the case for on-going weakness in the Japanese yen. The U.S. dollar had rallied to 80.60 against the yen (USD/JPY) in almost a straight line. I chose that point to close out my yen shorts to wait for what I thought would be an inevitable pullback from such a … Read more

Still Bearish the Yen Even As U.S. Dollar Drops to Lowest Point Since October’s Intervention

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on January 31, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) The path for a peak in the Japanese yen is turning into a much more arduous one that I had hoped. Last week, I pointed to an imminent acceleration in purchases … Read more

The Japanese Yen May Finally Begin Peaking As Finance Minister Encourages Buying Spree

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on January 22, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) Via an extremely strong Japanese yen, the world is offering Japan a steep discount on its assets. On January 19, 2011, Japanese Finance Minister, Yukio Edano, seemed to indicate that Japan … Read more

How to Trade “Euro Fatigue”

This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on January 6, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) It seems that the U.S. market has grown weary of worrying about the euro. The euro has lost 4.5% versus the U.S. dollar (EUR/USD)(FXE) since December 9, 2011 while the S&P … Read more

The Yen Holds Steady Against the Dollar As This Intervention Looks Different

This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on October 30, 2011. Click here to read the entire piece.) Call it a minor victory for Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi who declared his country is in “a war of nerves” with markets over the value of its currency given the … Read more