Bernanke: more, more, more…

EUR/USD

Ben Bernanke’s speech stirred up the market yesterday, reviving hopes for the Fed’s further support of the economy through asset buying and other unconventional measures. The Fed’s chief emphasized that to reduce unemployment the country needs a higher growth rate. He also mentioned that in the near future unemployment might decline even at a slower pace than now. Unfortunately, markets preferred to ignore Bernanke’s doubts and interpreted them as hints at new bond purchases. This interpretation immediately spurred the across-the-board weakening of the dollar. The single currency fluctuated wildly. In the European session it fell below 1.32, but at the end more…

USD prefers to close out the week on a declining note

EUR/USD

For two weeks in a row the dollar experienced heavy sales, which started on Thursday afternoon and reached their hottest point on Friday. As highlighted in the press, last week the dollar decline was caused by growing concerns about the US and Chinese economic growth. This explanation sounds a bit controversial though, as Friday’s data indicated a sudden 4.1% rise in the level of the Chinese coincident indicators in February. Of course, we shouldn’t forget that this happened after the 2% decline a month ago, but even with this fact considered the current pace is good. Technically, the markets were disappointed more…

Eurozone PMI has become a real cause for concern, but will it be long-lasting?

EUR/USD

The European PMI data caused quite a stir yesterday. Prior to their release markets had been cheered up by the more or less stabilizing situation in Greece and decrease in spreads of  peripheral bonds to the corresponding bonds of the core countries. However, yesterday’s PMI figures proved to be really alarming and triggered sales of the single currency, which eventually fell down to 1.3130. Yesterday we mentioned that PMI is a good GDP indicator. To show it more vividly Markit publishes the PMI and GDP graphs. According to them the eurozone is likely to slide into recession in the first quarter. more…

Another tiny little jump of EUR

EUR/USD

Tuesday turned out to be a fairly quiet day for most of the markets. The American exchanges were generally dominated by the correction sentiment, but the scope of correction didn’t give any particular cause for concern, as stocks recouped most of the losses to close out the day. It is noteworthy that the single currency managed to stay almost unaffected by the initial impetus for decline in the US. Regarding the results of the day, the EUR/USD rate remained almost unchanged, and now makes about 1.3260. Such dynamics supports our supposition that the euro has good chances to grow in the more…

Expensive oil: stimulus to spend or threat to growth?

EUR/USD

Last Friday was a quiet day for European markets, but quite a busy one for the US exchanges. Actually, it doesn’t seem to be a surprise, considering loads of important statistics which came from the States on Friday. First, data on inflation were published. Due to the fuel price growth the consumer price index gained 0.4% in February and the annual growth rate remained at 2.9%, as was generally expected by economists. It’s quite reassuring to hear about easing of the core inflation. However, in the coming months it most likely will go up due to the effect of energy prices more…