General News

The single currency has found strength this week to get over 1.30 psychological level versus the greenback again as the markets have shrugged off the delay of reaching an agreement between Greece and its creditors from the private sector as they have done last week by ignoring downgrading the credit rating of 9 of the Euro area remembers and also the EFSF's bonds by S&P giving all of the EU countries a negative outlook driving the yield of the European bonds down further. But The EU Fin Ministers meeting yesterday has come out yesterday with a new warning to Greece that it shouldn't expect more funds for bailing it even though the country's economy is worsening to push the single currency below 1.30 again.  The single currency has already opened the week below 1.29 versus the greenback on the worries about the results of the negotiations between Greece and IIF on the fear of the possibility of failing again to reach an...

The pressure on the single currency continued in the beginning of this week versus the greenback as the fear of downgrading the credit rating of the EU countries has materialized by the end of last week by cutting the credit rating of 9 of the Euro area remembers by S&P giving all of the EU countries a negative outlook but Germany and Slovenia which has been cut by one notch like Slovakia, Malta, Austria and France which was having a triple A rating like Germany, Finland, Netherlander and Luxemburg who had been maintained with no change while Italy, Spain, Portugal and Cyrus have been cut by 2 notches as the credit rating downgrading risk was one of the elements which were weighing down on the single currency recently especially after S&P's warning on the 5th of last month by placing the credit ratings of 15 euro zone countries on negative credit watch. The reactions of the EU Members were mixed. While Germany has...

The single currency could find the power to get over 1.30 versus the greenback because of the flash release of Dec EU manufacturing PMI index which has come at 46.9 while it has been expected to be 46.2 from 46.4 in November and also the flash reading of Dec EU Services PMI index which rose up to 48.3 from 47.5 in November while it was expected to decline further in the shrinking territory below 50 to 47.1 but the single currency has eased back below 1.30 as it is still finding difficulty to have a place above it after breaking it  yesterday as the uncertainty is still remaining about the crisis outlook as the market participants have not found out what can make them sure about that the worst of the debt crisis is over while the signs of the recession are still emerging in the Euro area The single currency has reached  yesterday 1.2945 versus the greenback by a new...

The Single currency is still under pressure versus the greenback after the ECB's interest rate decision of cutting the interest rate by 0.25% to be at its previous all times low at 1% again as it was before April meeting. The ECB kept its role as funds provider again with no announcement about new buying bonds plans directly which have been aimed by the markets which have seen offering new 3 years loans or lowering the EU reserve banking rate of deposits at its central banks by 50% to be 1% of its assets instead of 2% from the beginning of next year or even cutting the interest rate meanwhile are not enough and can not replace buying bonds directly by the ECB to restore confidence in the EU bonds markets to fall the risk appetite strongly during the ECB's president press conference which focused on the ECB's offering of cheaper money with no reference to direct interventions injecting funds in...

European stocks fell as they corrected after the largest monthly growth since July 2009, as some investors again started to reluctantly buy stocks before Euro zone leaders had a chance to explain how they will pay for the expansion of the region’s rescue fund. Futures on American stock indexes and Asian shares also fell. Shares of HSBC Holdings Plc and BHP Billiton Ltd led the drop among shares of companies in the banking and commodity sectors. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 1.1% to 246.18 as of 10:32AM in London. The index closed with monthly growth of 8.8%, which is not bad considering it was the highest growth in over two years. On October 28 last week, the European stock index underwent a 0.2% correction after 3.6% growth the previous day following Euro zone leaders announcing that they intended to increase the EFSF in an attempt to put a stop to the region’s debt crisis. In total, the index shot...

Durable goods orders might have fallen in September after the drop in orders from aircraft manufacturers neutralized the successes of such companies as Caterpillar Inc (CAT), which show increasing production thanks to their expansions to overseas markets. According to the estimates of 79 economists polled by Bloomberg, orders for equipment with three years of service life or more fell 1% after decreasing 0.1% in August. According to the same poll, orders for goods excluding aircraft (so-called business investment orders) rose 0.4%. The growth in developing countries’ economies and the 14% drop in the dollar’s value since June 2010 is accelerating American exports to record-high levels. It is also being helped by companies such as Caterpillar to defend itself from a prolonged drop in US housing construction, a major deterrent to the emerging economic recovery. The second report coming out today from the Department of Commerce might show that new homes sales did not significantly fluctuate from the six-month low. According...

Wednesday was another day of overall positives on the markets: at the end of the day, the EUR/USD pair fixed above 1.3800, adding more than 1.3%. The British pound rose to 1.5750 on the GBP/USD pair despite the country’s unemployment report showing the rate had increased to 8.1% (the previous figure was 7.9%); the average market forecast was 8.0%. All stock markets ended the day in the green zone, reacting to the positivity coming from Europe: yesterday, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso presented a plan to recapitalize European banks in order to protect Europe’s banking system from possible repercussions related to the debt crisis in the Euro zone. Also, the second vote on expanding the EFSF in the Slovakian parliament will likely take place on Friday, October 14. Members of the country’s ruling coalition have already reached an agreement with opposition leader Robert Fico on passing the amendments. Europe has recently been displaying a more coherent unified position to...

Today, immediately after American and European stocks jumped up in response to a promise from the German and French leaders to resolve the debt crisis in Europe, Asian stock indexes also rose, pushing the regional MSCI Asia Pacific Index to a high for the fourth day in a row. Shares of Rio Tinto Group, the second-largest mining company in the world by sales volume, rose 1.6% in Sydney, while shares of Korea Zinc rose 6.5% in trading in Seoul. Mitsubishi Corp, which receives almost half of its income (43%) from trading in commodities, saw its shares rise 2.9% in Tokyo at the same time that shares of Sony Corp, Japan’s largest exporter of consumer electronics, shot up 5.2%. The Japanese markets are resuming their trading today after being closed for a holiday on Monday. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 1.1% to reach 114.94 by 9:25AM in Tokyo, thanks to growth in exporters’ shares and shares of mining companies after prices on...

In the first half of the day on Tuesday, the dollar continued its advance on its major competitors. Investor uncertainty regarding the situation in the Euro zone due to the constant lack of any kind of concrete decisions on issuing another tranche of financial aid to Greece has taken its toll: the EUR/USD pair dropped to 1.3150 and the British pound fell to 1.5350 in the GBP/USD pair. The situation began to change after 6:00PM (Moscow Time), when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made his address before the US Congress’s Joint Economic Committee. In the address, Bernanke announced that “the Fed is ready to take additional measures for stimulating the economy if necessary,” and also signaled that, according to the Fed’s calculations, inflation in the US has stabilized. At the same time, he cautioned Congressmen against a policy of excess savings, again pointing to the poor situation on the labor market.  Market players assessed his words as a hint that...

Today, Steve Jobs passed away at age 56 after a six-year battle with a rare form of cancer. He dedicated what was left of his life and health to that which he will be remembered for forever. “Steve’s brilliancy, passion, and energy were the source of countless innovations which enriched and improved each of our lives,” said a statement released by Apple. “The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.” The entire DT Trading Limited team expresses their deep sympathies to the friends and family of the genius inventor and one of the world’s greatest managers. When the company reported the death of its founder and inspirer, the markets in New York were already closed for the day. Yesterday, shares of American companies rose in unison for the first time in a long time: the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index demonstrated the largest two-day growth in over a month. The economic data that came out on Wednesday contributed to such high...