FOMC faces headwinds

By GG Analyst in Reviews 0 Comment

EUR/USD

USD fell under pressure yesterday after the release of the FOMC’s meeting minutes in October. Then the Committee stopped bond purchases, so market participants expected to see the discussion if it was reasonable in the minutes. Among the voting members there was only one dissident – Narayana Kocherlakota, who appealed for further QE until inflation reached the target rates. It is an extremely dovish position, but it was long known to the market and so didn’t arouse any surprise. The minutes were remarkable for comments that inflation would remain low for a while despite the large-scale quantitative easing, which was already more…

Good news from Germany helps EUR and stocks

By GG Analyst in Reviews 0 Comment

EUR/USD

Thanks to the strong statistics from Germany, the single currency managed to continue forming a short-term uptrend. The German ZEW index has risen to 11.5 in November, which is the first increase of the index since December 2013 and is much above the forecast rate of just 0.9. It is of interest that the Current Situation Index also has grown (often it moves in the opposite direction from the general index). Yet, the growth was very little, just 0.3 points up to 3.5. The ZEW Economic Sentiment for the entire eurozone also proved to be better than expected. In November it more…

EUR clings to 1.2500

By GG Analyst in Reviews 0 Comment

EUR/USD

Euro-bears almost reached the preceding lows in the pair. EURUSD dropped down to 1.2456 during the day, yet the weekly low of 1.2437 was left untouched. While the morning weakness could be accounted for by the disappointing rates of the EU Final PMIs, the pair’s recovery during the US session could hardly be explained by any fundamental factors. But let’s relate everything in due order. The Services PMI and Composite PMIs for Italy and France proved to be in the green zone, besides the Italian activity in the services sector even became more intense in comparison with the previous month, which more…

Time of great motions?

By GG Analyst in Reviews 0 Comment

EUR/USD

Yesterday the single currency managed to rally its strength, relying on the support at 1.2550. Today the pair remains under pressure so this level can fail to withstand the attack. USD’s appreciation is explained by its strength against the yen during the Asian session and also by the reduction of commodity prices, which cools down interest in the commodity currencies. Yesterday’s statistics were a bit more positive than expected, both for the euro and the dollar. Industrial and Services Confidence and their general index surpassed expectations, while Consumer Confidence remained the same. It is lightly positive news for the EU currency. more…

Cautious optimism to follow the stress tests

By GG Analyst in Reviews 0 Comment

EUR/USD

25 EU banks failed the ECB’s stress tests, carried out at the end of the previous year. The regulator, anyway, notes that over that time the banks have improved their financial health. The Italian banks are in the worst position – there 9 banks failed the ECB’s checks and 2 banks need to build up the capital. Altogether the banks have to increase the capital by €25bln, half of which has already been gained by the banks by now. Though the results didn’t show a sudden improvement of the banking system, market observers and participants took the results with cautious optimism more…