Fast Money Traders

(Reuters) - The gap between the Federal Reserve's dovish core and its hawkish wing was on display on Thursday as a top Fed official said the economy is in better shape even as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke focused on a source of weakness. While growing "slower than we would like," the U.S. economy is expanding fast enough that it does not need further help from the central bank, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher told Fox Business Network. "We will not support further quantitative easing under these circumstances because there's a lot of money lying on the sidelines, lying fallow," he said, according to a transcript provided by the network. "We don't need any more monetary morphine." Bernanke, by contrast, sounded more cautious, saying U.S. consumer spending is still too weak to ensure a ...

(Reuters) - Shares slipped on Tuesday, led by losses in Hong Kong and Shanghai on underwhelming corporate earnings, while the euro held near its highest level in a week on easing fears about wider damage to the financial system from Greece's debt crisis. Commodities were broadly weaker, with base and precious metals both edging down, while crude oil eased more than half a percent on an improved supply outlook as Libyan exports are returning to pre-war levels faster than expected. MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 0.5 percent. Tokyo markets were closed for a holiday. Financial spreadbetters predicted major European markets .FTSE .FCHI .GDAXI would open down 0.1-0.2 percent, while U.S. stock futures also dipped 0.1 percent. .EU .L "Momentum is ...

Fundamental Analysis EUR The eurozone crisis appears to have "taken a pause for breath" - Wolfgang Franz, ZEW president An index of German investor confidence rose to 22.3 in March, the highest level in more than 20 months, from 5.4 in February, said the ZEW Centre for European Economic Research on Tuesday. ZEW sentiment is based on a survey conducted among 350 German investors and analysts, who are asked to assess the six-month economic outlook. USD "The economy is moving towards a self-sustaining recovery" - Jeffrey Saut, chief investment strategist at Raymond James & Associates U.S. month on month retail sales grew at a fastest pace in five months in February, suggesting the worlds largest economy is gaining steam even despite rising gasoline prices, said the Census Bureau on ...

We hope you enjoy today’s issue of The Daily Reckoning, dear reader. It’s costing us a fortune to produce; NZ$0.68 per minute (up to NZ$29.90 for 24 hours), to be exact. That’s what the hotel charges for accessing the Internet. Seems kind of strange, really. They give us sausages and eggs for breakfast, along with a stellar selection of fresh-squeezed juices and pastries…then, when we’re overfed and slow to compute, they slam us for thirty bucks for a day worth of something Starbucks outlets around the world give away for nothing. And it’s limited data! How are we supposed to reckon when we can’t stream our favorite Justin Bieber songs straight into our headphones? This remote island nation is not cheap, as we’re coming to find out. Just to give you an idea… A 25 minute taxi-ride from ...

The dollar leaped against the euro and yen on Wednesday as a confluence of factors, ranging from a European Central Bank cash infusion to diminished expectations of another asset-buying binge by the Federal Reserve, raised its appeal. An array of positive U.S. data, which typically increases risk appetite, favored the greenback against the euro as it highlighted a growing disparity between the economies on both sides of the Atlantic. The euro accelerated losses against the dollar to hit a near one-week low and the greenback rose sharply against the yen after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told a congressional panel the country's unemployment rate had fallen faster than expected. Bernanke offered a tempered view of the U.S. economy and stopped short of signaling further Fed bond purchases, ...

Fundamental Analysis EUR/USD "The market still appears to be very short euros as a speculative position, so that’s one of the reasons why it’s not going down" - Commonwealth Bank of Australia (based on Bloomberg) Most of the indicators suggest continuation of the bullish trend until EUR/USD reaches 1.3436 with potential of climbing as high as 1.3627. However, we cannot rule out a dip down to an initial support at 1.3108, since the pair is currently struggling at a 1.3250/80 resistance zone. EUR/JPY "We expect no change in the policy rate and no announcement of further easing measures from the ECB" - Brown Brothers Harriman (based on CNBC) As long as EUR/JPY remains above a key support located at 100.09 (20 day ma), the outlook will be bullish. At the moment the pair is struggling at a ...

Fundamental Analysis EUR German exports declined more rapidly than economists predicted in December as debt crisis harmed the export demand across the troubled region. Exports lost 4.3% compared to November when they added 2.6%. In contrast, analysts predicted only a 1% decline in European biggest economy's exports. Nevertheless economists suggest the German exports may gain momentum in 2012 as business confidence surged in January. USD Coca-Cola the world's biggest soft-drink producer, reported higher than expected 4th quarter profit as juices and teas stimulated sales in Asia. Profits totalled 79 US cents per share compared to 77 cents a share predicted by analysts. Coca Cola shares gained 1.3% on the announcement. Company's stocks advanced 6.4% in 2011. GBP UK FTSE 100 Index opened ...

(Reuters) - The euro fell on Monday on mounting investor concern that Greek coalition parties had yet to sign off on the terms of a new bailout, keeping alive the risk of a messy default that could ensnare other countries such as Portugal. Greece's coalition members must agree to painful terms of a new bailout worth 130 billion euros before euro zone finance ministers next meet, with a Greek government official denying that there was a deadline for the parties to respond to. A spokesman of the PASOK socialist party which is a coalition partner, said on Sunday that leaders of the three parties had to give their responses by 5 a.m. ET on Monday. So far there appears some distance between the Greeks and the targets proposed by the IMF-EU-ECB troika with concerns rising that Athens might be ...

(Reuters) - The euro fell on Monday on mounting investor concern that Greek coalition parties had yet to sign off on the terms of a new bailout, keeping alive the risk of a messy default that could ensnare other countries such as Portugal. Greece's coalition members must agree to painful terms of a new bailout worth 130 billion euros before euro zone finance ministers next meet, with a Greek government official denying that there was a deadline for the parties to respond to. A spokesman of the PASOK socialist party which is a coalition partner, said on Sunday that leaders of the three parties had to give their responses by 5 a.m. ET on Monday. So far there appears some distance between the Greeks and the targets proposed by the IMF-EU-ECB troika with concerns rising that Athens might be ...