Afternoon Local Sydney

The Week Ahead Highlights Better data drives risk on, Fed QE3 off Still waiting on a Greek debt deal Central banks' decisions on tap Better data drives risk on, Fed QE3 off The past week ended with a string of better-than-expected data releases from key major economies, suggesting the global recovery may avoid a more worrisome downturn. Mostly better than expected PMI's from Europe, UK, China and the US were supplemented on Friday by a much stronger US employment report than was expected. We're cautiously optimistic that the better US jobs report is a valid signal that the US recovery is improving, but we're also aware that January employment numbers are especially volatile due to seasonal factors, and subject to major revision. The decline in the unemployment rate in the ...

The Week Ahead Highlights September ends with a whimper Critical week ahead for Eurozone debt crisis Central bank decisions: RBA, ECB & BOE September ends with a whimper September and the 3Q ended with many major markets closing around recent lows for the current decline. Perhaps most disheartening from a technical perspective is that most risk assets spent the early part of the week attempting to rebound, only to fail, leaving behind ominous price patterns. The CRB commodity index actually closed at new lows for the decline and below the 300 level for the first time since Nov. 2010. The S&P 500 tested higher early in the week, but was soundly rejected from the base of the daily Ichimoku cloud around 1195 and finished out near where it started, but with a very long tail ...