Currencies From Appreciating Further

Fundamental Analysis EUR " show that despite the crisis in the euro area, Germany is growing and benefiting from a revival in international trade." - Klaus Baader, senior economist at Societe Generale SA German factory orders rose by more than forecast in March, a sign Europe’s largest economy is weathering the debt crisis. USD "From where we sit right now, we think the economy looks fundamentally stronger." - Marisa Di Natale, an economist at Moody’s Analytics in West Chester U.S. stocks closed mixed on Monday after Francois Hollande was elected as a French president and Greek voters turned to antibailout parties. GBP "… the challenging economic backdrop suggests that a significant acceleration in prices or activity is unlikely in the near term." - Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s ...

Fundamental Analysis EUR "Market stresses will eventually force the ECB to restart the bond program" - Market stresses will eventually force the ECB to restart the bond program The European Central Bank is expected to restart government bond purchases rather than proceed with another round of long term refinancing operation. USD "Disposable incomes of consumers are still being squeezed. That does make it difficult for consumption to accelerate from here" - Jeremy Lawson, an economist at BNP Paribas in New York U.S. consumer confidence deteriorated slightly in April. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s preliminary index of sentiment declined to 75.7 from 76.2 in March. GBP U.K. "has a wealthy, open, and diversified economy" - S&P Standard & Poor's reaffirmed the U.K.'s triple ...

Weekly Economic and Financial Commentary U.S. Review A Rough Start To April Another week of softer U.S. economic data weighed on market sentiment this week. More hints of slower economic growth are appearing in the data, consistent with our forecast that U.S. GDP growth slows to a 2.8 percent annualized pace in the first quarter and continues slowing to a sub 2 percent annualized pace in the second. Initial jobless claims jumped by 13,000 in the first week of April. February imports plunged 2.7 percent, small business confidence fell in March for the first time in seven months and core inflation is on the rise. A Rough Start to April United States economic data releases so far this month have not been kind to the bulls on Wall Street. The poor March payroll report rattled some ...

Fundamental Analysis EUR Italy's borrowing costs increased during last bond sale, escalating worries about Italy's ability to repay its obligations. Three-year bonds faced a rise in the interest rate from 2.76% to 3.89%. Adding to concerns over the Euro Zone's economic state, Greek unemployment rate surged to 21.8% in January as compared to 14.8% in January 2011. USD US March CPI increased by 0.3% thus outpacing the 0.2% investor consensus forecast. Core CPI was in line with the expectations at 0.2% last month, Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. GBP FTSE 100 index traded lower on Friday as lower than expected China's GDP growth weighed on investor sentiment. Additionally Spanish shares tumbled as country's bond yields climbed. Sage Group lost 2.2% after Jefferies cut the stock' ...

Fundamental Analysis EUR The borrowing costs on German bunds climbed to three month record high after Greek PM Lucas Papademos got parliamentary support for a EUR 130 billion rescue package, curbing demand for safe securities. The yields on 10-year German notes added two basis points, reaching 2.06% on Wednesday. Germany's bills marked the sixth decline in seven days. USD The government of the US allowed 10 EU countries and Japan to be excluded from the Iranian oil sanctions as these countries managed to cut Iranian oil imports essentially. The sanctions are aimed at punishing countries that go on purchasing large amounts of Iranian oil. The biggest oil importers as South Korea, China and India were not exempted from the sanctions. GBP British budget gap nearly doubled in February on ...

Fundamental Analysis EUR The borrowing costs on German bunds climbed to three month record high after Greek PM Lucas Papademos got parliamentary support for a EUR 130 billion rescue package, curbing demand for safe securities. The yields on 10-year German notes added two basis points, reaching 2.06% on Wednesday. Germany's bills marked the sixth decline in seven days. USD The government of the US allowed 10 EU countries and Japan to be excluded from the Iranian oil sanctions as these countries managed to cut Iranian oil imports essentially. The sanctions are aimed at punishing countries that go on purchasing large amounts of Iranian oil. The biggest oil importers as South Korea, China and India were not exempted from the sanctions. GBP British budget gap nearly doubled in February on ...

The South African rand slumped today after two days of gains on the speculation that the central bank bought dollars to keep the currency from appreciating further after it had reached the highest level in five months in February. Economists speculated that South Africa’s central bank was buying dollars to prevent the rand from becoming too strong and hurting the nation’s economy. The rand also fell as riskier currencies felt pressure after the US Federal Reserve refrained from quantitative easing. Initially, traders considered it to be a good sign, but today some of them reviewed their attitude and were less optimistic. USD/ZAR was up from 7.5280 to 7.6550 as of 13:39 GMT today.

Fundamental Analysis EUR "It helps prevent a repetition of the sovereign debt crisis" - Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council All but two of the European Union leaders Friday signed a treaty to adopt strict new rules on national deficits and debts. Only Britain and the Czech Republic did not sign the agreement. USD "There’s a lot of room to go in the stock market" - John Carey, a Boston-based money manager at Pioneer Investments The Standard & Poor's 500 lost 0.32%, or 4.46 points, to 1,369.63. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.02%, by 2.73 points, to 12,977.57. The Nasdaq Composite Index dipped by 0.43%, or 12.78 points, to 2,976.19. GBP "The improved performance of the construction sector adds to other positive data released on the UK economy" - Sarah Bingham, ...

Dukascopy Fundamental Analysis EUR According to State data the number of unemployed in Spain increased to 4.7% million in February or by 112,269 from January. On yearly basis the unemployment level has surged by 412,835. With current monthly jobless rate of 23.3% Spain is maintaining the unemployment record high among 27 EU member countries. USD Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost 0.04% since opening, driven down by Travelers Cos Inc. with -1.35% and Coca Cola Co with -0.78%. Exxon and Chevron, major oil companies are losing 0.85% and 0.55% respectively on Saudi oil pipe speculation. GBP Barclays revealed that it borrowed EUR 8.2B from the ECB through central bank’s LTRO. Thus, Barclays has become the third bank after HSBC and Lloyds that had accepted the low-interest loan ...