Investing

18 July 2016

CFTC: From the Long to the Short of It

The combination of a robust US jobs report, speculation of bolder action by Japan, the possibility that the ECB drops the capital key to overcome the ostensible shortage of some core bonds (e.g. German bunds), and the anticipation of easier...

18 July 2016

Other Currencies Matter

The US dollar is easily the most traded currency, and despite the plethora of other currencies, it is on one side of nearly 90% of all trades.  Yet the movement in the foreign exchange market presently is not so much...

14 July 2016

When is a Bottom a Bottom?

With the Bank of England apparently surprising the market more than one might have expected, given the split surveys, many are thinking sterling has bottomed.  If it has bottomed, where could it go?  A number of technical considerations suggest toward...

7 July 2016

Is the Yuan Really Weak?

Here are two Great Graphics that portray two time series: the dollar-yuan exchange rate and the yuan against a trade-weighted basket.  The first chart comes from a highly reputable consulting firm. It replicates the trade-weighted basket that Chinese officials unveiled...

6 July 2016

Life in the Slow (Trading) Lane

It sounds like a scene from “Jurassic World”: fast, agile predators pursue their slower, less nimble prey, as the latter flee for safer pastures. Yet this ecology framework turns out to be an apt analogy for today’s financial markets, in...

26 June 2016

CFTC: Report just Two-Days Short of the Referendum

The CFTC reporting week ending June 21 covers the day FOMC and BOJ meetings and ends two days before the UK referendum. The overarching theme was the reduction of exposure.  This is not measured by net positions but by gross...

26 June 2016

Foreign Exchange Market Technical Condition Changes

The dramatic reaction to the UK decision to leave the European Union has changed the technical condition in the foreign exchange market.  While the precipitating factor is a fundamental political development, it is mediated by psychology.  Group psychology is the...

20 June 2016

Are We at Peak Pound Yet?

Sterling is recording its daily advance since 2008 today.  It is up about 2.3%.  The ostensible driver is the weekend polls suggesting that, as we suspected the murder of the UK MP acting as a catalyst of sorts for public...

20 June 2016

CFTC: Setting Up for the Vote

In the days ahead of the murder of Jo Cox, a UK member of parliament, apparently for her support for remaining in the EU, speculators in the futures market scooped up sterling.  They added 25.4k sterling contracts to lift the...

20 June 2016

Technically Speaking: Could We See a Shaky Dollar?

The US dollar recovered from the sell-off sparked by the poor employment data released on June 3. It continued to move higher after the Federal Reserve met and shaved its forecasts for the next year and 2018.  The number of...