At long last, the market finally got their long awaited Federal Reserve rate increase. Yesterday, the Fed hiked the Fed Funds rate by 25 basis points, from 0.25% to 0.5%. The Fed's famously watched "dot plot" revealed that most members expect at least four rate hikes in 2016. And investors? If interest rate swaps are any indication, then investors expect no more than two rate hikes next year.
So who is right then? The Fed? Or the market? Continue reading "Fed At Odds With Markets Over Oil"
Which currency is set to outperform? Is it the US Dollar or the Pound Sterling? Consider if you will that, despite some notable headwinds, the Fed is moving closer to a rate hike. For many, that suggests the Dollar as the best bet for the next 12 months. Especially with unemployment at 5.3% and core CPI now rebounding to 1.8% Year on Year. Yet some US data releases are still only "mildly" positive; for example gains in wages, slowed from 2.3% to just 2%.
On the other side of the Atlantic the Bank of England has signaled that it's warming up towards a rate hike, too. Yet, unlike in the US, gains in wages have been rising by 3.2% Year on Year. Moreover, GDP has been growing at a pace of 0.4% (QoQ) in Q1, far better than the negative figure posted by the US. So is the Sterling looking better than the Dollar? Not exactly. Then is the Dollar looking better than Sterling? The answer is, once again, not exactly. But here's the thing. Continue reading "Hedge Your Dollars With Pounds?"
The US economy just seems to get better and better; better than robust retail sales, knockout earnings in payrolls and confident consumers raring and ready to spend more and more. Yet, after a rally that stretched all the way from early May, the last few days have been rather mixed for the Dollar, turning its monthly return against peer currencies into a virtual flat line. What might be the reason for that and should it affect your FX strategy? The answer to those questions is our focus for today.
If the outlook for the US economy and the US Dollar are so positive, what then could make investors question their Dollar bullish bets? Continue reading "Is The Dollar Overvalued?"
As many countries there are that have their own currency, there are currency pairs to trade. This does not mean you should start off studying the movements of the Guatemalan Quetzal. New traders need to stick to those currencies whose indicators and movements have been well documented.
The three major currency pairs are the EUR/USD, GBP/USD and USD/JPY. If you didn’t already notice, the US dollar is listed in each one. That’s because this it the most traded currency in the market, and the one that has been studied at length.
There are three very good reasons why you should stick with these three currency pairs:
• All of them are well established currency pairs that are traded widely. This type of liquidity guarantees that you are going to profit from price changes.
• They all have the US dollar, which means that the most amount of activity will be during the New York trading hours. This adds to the liquidity as this is typically when the highest amount of Forex trading is taking place.
• Since they are so popular, a new trader is going to find a wealth of Forex trading systems online that can help them in trading these pairs successfully.
Any currency that is considered to be exotic or uncommon should be avoided by new traders. In some instances the financial state of the country is too unstable to be able to read the charts properly. For others, there just is not enough information available to you. A new trader needs to use as many resources as possible before placing a trade. Unless you have some first hand knowledge of Guatemala and its future financial state, you should stay far away from trading the uncommon currencies.
Focus your attention instead on the: Continue reading "Forex Currency Pairs: How to Choose the Right One Right From the Start"
You are now leaving a Magnifi Communities’ website and are going to a website that is not operated by Magnifi Communities. This website is operated by Magnifi LLC, an SEC registered investment adviser affiliated with Magnifi Communities.
Magnifi Communities does not endorse this website, its sponsor, or any of the policies, activities, products, or services offered on the site. We are not responsible for the content or availability of linked site.
