Yen May Fall Further As French Election Stokes Risk Appetite

Yen May Fall Further As French Election Stokes Risk Appetite

The first round of the French presidential election defined price action at the start of the trading week. The Euro outperformed after centrist Emmanuel Macron emerged in the lead, putting to rest concerns about a runoff between two eurosceptics (Marine Le Pen from the right and Jean-Luc Melechon from the left). The election outcome brightened spirits across the financial […]
FX Week Ahead: US GDP, ECB & BoJ Meetings

FX Week Ahead: US GDP, ECB & BoJ Meetings

The week ahead will open in the backdrop of the French elections which will be the main overriding theme. Monday is a bank holiday in Australia and New Zealand. Traders will be focusing on the ECB and the BoJ’s meetings this week. No changes are expected from both these meetings this week with the respective […]
Key Events In The Coming Busy Week: US GDP; ECB & BOJ Meetings, And Lots Of Earnings

Key Events In The Coming Busy Week: US GDP; ECB & BOJ Meetings, And Lots Of Earnings

The key economic releases this week are the durable goods report on Thursday and Q1 GDP on Friday. This week is the busiest week of earnings season, with 40%of S&P 500 equity cap reporting. In addition, there are a few scheduled speaking engagements by Fed officials this week.  Further, as SocGen notes, this week, markets […]
EUR/USD In Hangover Mode After The French Elections

EUR/USD In Hangover Mode After The French Elections

EUR/USD is trading at 1.08037 in the morning after Macron topped the first round of the French elections. The mainstream candidate is expected to beat extreme-right Le Pen in the second round by a wide margin. Opinion polls for the second round have already been released and they project Macron to win 60% of the vote. […]
Oil Prices Rise While Chinese Stocks Plummet

Oil Prices Rise While Chinese Stocks Plummet

Oil prices headed higher on Monday morning on hopes that OPEC will continue its production cuts past its original May deadline. Brent crude futures were up 30 cents per barrel to $52.26 per barrel, a 0.6 percent increase. U.S. WTI crude oil futures gained 26 cents to $49.88 per barrel, but remained notably below the […]
Gold Weekly Forecast – Monday, April 24

Gold Weekly Forecast – Monday, April 24

Gold ended the week down by 0.58% at $1284.29, suffering the first weekly loss in six, as investors cashed in recent gains driven by a range of geopolitical tensions. After hitting a fresh five-month highs on Monday, XAU/USD retreated to the $1277.35-1276 support area before recovering to the current level. The major event on everyone’s […]
Macro Mondays: Unit Investment Trusts (UIT)

Macro Mondays: Unit Investment Trusts (UIT)

Contrary to popular belief, this is NOT some kind of STD (that would be a UTI, not a UIT). A UIT, or Unit Investment Trust, IS actually a very popular investment tool, not too much unlike an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) or a general mutual fund. While not one of the most popular investment instruments […]
IHI: Keep Riding The Momentum

IHI: Keep Riding The Momentum

Momentum traders have no doubt had the healthcare equipment sector on their radar, and maybe even for some time. c That trend has continued with the fund posting a 14% gain thus far in 2017 compared to a 7% return for healthcare and an 8% return for biotechs. The group got another boost this past week […]
Sensex Opens In Green; Realty Sector Up By 2.4%

Sensex Opens In Green; Realty Sector Up By 2.4%

Stock markets in Asia are mixed today following the widely-expected results of the first round of presidential elections in France. The Shanghai Composite is off 1.50%, while the Hang Seng is down 0.29%. The Nikkei 225 is trading higher by 1.32%. The US stocks closed lower in choppy trade on Friday after Trump told the Associated Press he would be […]
Gold Prices Drop As Macron Leads First Round In French Election

Gold Prices Drop As Macron Leads First Round In French Election

Gold prices are facing heavy selling pressure after the outcome of the first-round vote in the French presidential election brightened market sentiment. Bond yields shot up as capital poured out of haven assets and the priced-in 2017 rate hike path implied in Fed Funds futures steepened. Not surprisingly, this proved to bode ill for non-interest-bearing assets including the […]