Annual Transaction Volume

www.sunbirdfx.com The bearish momentum in Wall Street continued last week as indices shed 4%-5% during the week. The sharp declines were expected from the technical analysis point of view, since the main indices broke significant support in their daily charts, which we have analyzed and marked as key levels. The S&P 500 broke the support at 1350 points and reached the target we set at 1300 points, mainly because of the collapse of the financial sector. The volumes are increasing, which means that the sellers are gaining power, in spite improving economic data and the optimism that spread with Facebook trading on Friday. The three main indices are close to the annual opening levels as NASDAQ's next support is at 2400 points. EUR/USD We have been mentioning the support at 1.30 as a ...

(Reuters) - Bank executives face great expectations from investors when they report first-quarter results beginning Friday. Bank stocks have shot up 24 percent this year, as measured by the KBW Banks index, in their steepest ascent in any quarter since the end of September 2009. Now investors want to know if they should stick with their bets that the economy will strengthen and lift bank lending margins and profits, or take their gains and get out. "Investors are out on a limb," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank. They won't get much help from the earnings, which are expected to be murky this quarter and confused by accounting items. Investors may have to rely on their own hunches to sort conflicting numbers and comments from bank executives about the ...

www.sunbirdfx.com The US indices shed 0.70% yesterday in higher than average volumes, which might mean that the big players are starting to realize their investments that were made during the rally. However, the estimations about a correction are going on for several weeks but the US stock markets continued rising, so in spite the fact that the stocks are overbought, the current rally could last. Nevertheless, if the major indices slide under yesterday's low, it will increase the possibility for a bearish correction. USD/CHF The USD has managed to keep the price high versus the CHF, in spite the fact that it has been weakening against the other major pairs in the recent weeks. The price is moving in a channel between 0.91 and 0.925, and the CHF failed in breaking the support last week. ...

(Reuters) - European Commission officials raided the offices of two electricity exchanges on Tuesday following concerns their planned tie up may infringe European competition laws, the companies said. Paris-based EPEX Spot and Norway's Nordpool Spot, which offer short-term electricity trading platforms for French, German, Austrian, Swiss and Scandinavian power, in September announced plans to create a joint exchange which would cover more than half of Europe's spot electricity trades. "Yes, our office was searched today. We expect the raids were carried out in relation to our cooperation with Nordpool Spot," a spokesman for EPEX Spot said. The European Commission said it was concerned the companies may have violated European antitrust rules that prohibit cartels, without giving further ...

Economic Data Analysis : 06/01/2012 A New Direction for 2012? Global risk sentiment boosted by global PMIs and US employment gains. Euro crisis still dominant theme. Neither Merkel-Sarkozy nor ECB to alter landscape. MPC to delay extending QE until next month's meeting. The first trading days of 2012 brought more upbeat news than the gloomy prognostications of end-2011 anticipated. For sure, risks of a further intensification of the Euro area crisis continue to hang over the global outlook. However, this week has seen improvement in global PMIs and record gains in US employment (albeit more subdued in the official payrolls release). This has boosted risk sentiment and key equity markets have risen in the first week of this year, with the relative outperformance of the US ...

Weekly Economic and Financial Commentary : 17/12/2011 U.S. Review Mixed Bag of Chips, but Reports Still Suggest Recovery Retail sales posted a disappointing increase of 0.2 percent in November, but categories typically associated with the holiday season saw solid gains. We believe the holiday sales projections will remain on track. Industrial production delivered an unexpected decline in November with the pullback concentrated in the manufacturing sector. However, regional surveys for December suggest further positive momentum. Regarding inflation, we continue to expect prices to moderate over the next year due to restrained domestic demand and slowing global growth. Economic Recovery Is Still on Pace The busy week of economic releases continued to show an economy improving ...

Investors pessimistic about the prospects of U.S. banks and brokers have some good company: Wall Street chief executives. And yet the bosses' grim outlook is not yet fully reflected in analysts' expectations for money managers and securities firms. That means beaten-down bank stocks are likely in for more punishment. In recent regulatory filings and investor meetings, executives from brokerages and investment banks cautioned that the first two months of the current December-end quarter have shown little improvement from the September quarter, deemed by many as the toughest since the 2008 financial crisis. "If anything, the markets have become more difficult over the course of October and November," UBS Wealth Management Americas CEO Robert McCann said at a recent investor day. Brokers ...

NEW YORK (Reuters)- For the small club of companies who trade the food, fuels and metals that keep the world running, the last decade has been sensational. Driven by the rise of Brazil, China, India and other fast-growing economies, the global commodities boom has turbocharged profits at the world's biggest trading houses. They form an exclusive group, whose loosely regulated members are often based in such tax havens as Switzerland. Together, they are worth over a trillion dollars in annual revenue and control more than half the world's freely traded commodities. The top five piled up $629 billion in revenues last year, just below the global top five financial companies and more than the combined sales of leading players in tech or telecoms. Many amass speculative positions worth ...

www.sunbirdfx.com The worst trading-week and quarter since 2008 were closed on Friday and investors cannot be more pessimistic. It looks like that the trust in the global-economy leaders is vanished and the market just cannot lift up. Even encouraging macro data in the US such as reduced new jobless claims and the updated GDP, could not help the Stock markets. The situation in Europe is much worse as the financial markets there are starting to realize that Greece will not be able to return its huge debt. That causes downgrades of major banks in French, which hold great amounts of Greek bonds. The uncertainly is so high that instruments that are considered as "safe shore" are falling/stamping, such as metals, CHF and JPY. NASDAQ Technically, the US indices broke important levels that ...