Bobbys Corner-Open Market-December.14.2011
Good Morning:
The euro fell below $1.30 as Italian borrowing costs increased, and ECB borrowing for Spanish banks hit a 1 year high. Continued political differences within the EU community have caused a negative scenario with the euro.
Lower European equity markets also caused the euro to lose steam.
The GBP was higher in overnight trading as lower equity markets had investors look for the safety of the GBP.
Commodity and equity markets dropped after the FOMC yesterday stated that they are not looking to add any more stimulus to their easing policy. The FOMC announced that the US economy is showing signs of growth (as slow as it may be)-which was their reasoning behind their no new stimulus approach. Many investors were looking for a 3rd round of QE.
World equity markets traded lower-and US Futures are lower at this time also.
Oil,Gold,Silver and commodities in general are lower across the board.
HAVE A GREAT DAY & GOOD LUCK
Bobbys Corner-Open Market-December.13.2011
Good Morning:
The greenback lost steam overnight-as investors look ahead at the Fed’s policy meeting today. Many market participants are anticipating that the Fed will reiterate their pledge to keep interest rates at record lows. Most feel that the Fed will not reduce any of the stimuli that they have in place. They may possibly be able to slow down their asset purchase program, but I do not think they will do that quickly.
The FOMC will have their rate decision and comments at 2:15 PM this afternoon.
In news over the pond:
Comments from ECB member Makuch that the ECB can’t carry out massive bond purchases-as the EU treaty does not allow the ECB to act like the US Fed.
The markets did see the ECB out in the market buying Italian bonds today.
With banks in Europe under pressure from regulators to boost their capital reserves, many major European banks are selling some of their best businesses so that they can raise the much needed capital. This practice will most definitely hurt future long term profits, but the banks have no choice at this time.
November Retail Sales rose .2% versus .6% in October.
Oil and Silver are higher, while Gold is flat.
Asian equity markets were lower-but Europe and US Futures are in positive territory.
HAVE A GREAT DAY & GOOD LUCK
Bobbys Corner-Open Market-December.12.2011
Good Morning:
The USD and JPY rose as investors seek out safe haven assets as the European debt crisis continues to cause havoc in the marketplace.
It seems that some of the “crisis fighting” measures that have been put in place are not enough-as European borrowing costs are continuing to rise.
Moody’s Investor Services will again review the ratings of European Union countries after last weeks summit did not produce any real initiates to put and end to the debt crisis.
S&P also made comments that the EU summit made some progress, but did not come away with any concrete decisions.
The CHF also fell versus the USD as investors continued concerns that European leaders have not come up with an agreement to reign in the debt crisis, thus causing investors to seek assets with less ties to the Euro Zone.
Asian equity markets were mixed-Europe is lower-and US Futures are pointing to a lower opening this morning.
Gold and Silver and Oil are all lower.
HAVE A GREAT DAY & GOOD LUCK
Bobbys Corner-Open Market-December.9.2011
Good Morning:
An agreement of “sorts” was supported by European leaders in Brussels overnight.
The Euro Zone leaders agreed to a larger rescue fund along with additional budget rules that have been tightened up for EU members.
It will be a slow, painful process, but it looks like they will finally start to work together and move toward a common fiscal policy.
French and Belgium bonds rose after the announcement by European leaders that they have come up with a new debt crisis agreement.
Italian and Spanish bonds also rose-as the ECB was in the market buying the bods.
Asian equity markets were mostly lower during their session-but European indexes were higher after the European announcement.
US Futures are also pointing to a higher opening.
Gold, Silver & oil are all higher.
HAVE A GREAT DAY-WEEKEND & GOOD LUCK
Bobbys Corner-Open Market-December.8.2011
Good Morning:
Currency markets were fairly stable overnight as market participants awaited the ECB interest rate decision. The ECB did cut it’s benchmark interest rate 25 basis points, which was highly expected by analysts.
It seems that the pressure of a downgrade of Italy has temporarily been quelled, after PM Monti announced his newest austerity plans for the faltering Italian economy.
Concerns of S&P cutting the AAA rating’s of Germany and France are very real-as European leaders need to come to an agreement of their plan to fix the debt crisis that is taking over the Euro Zone.
The Bank of England left interest rates and their QE program unchanged. This was widly expected by market participants.
The JPY traded stronger as nervousness over the European debt crisis is pushing demand for the safe have of Japan’s currency.
Weekly US jobless claims were 381K-nice to see it below 400k.
Equity markets were lower in Asia-but Europe is showing positive number now-as are US Futures.
Oil is higher, as is Gold and Silver.
HAVE A GREAT DAY & GOOD LUCK
Bobbys Corner-Open Market-December.7.2011
Good Morning:
Market participants mostly remained on the sidelines as we await the scheduled ECB meeting along with a EU summit scheduled for tomorrow. News from the ECB that dollar demand via the swap auction was higher than expected, took a lot of the wind out of the EUR/USD pair. It seems that the banking sector is still struggling to meet it’s funding obligations.
Yesterday’s 25 basis point drop by the Reserve Bank of Australiais the RBA’s attempt to keep the economic momentum in Austrailia moving forward.
World equity markets are mostly higher-but Europe is showing signs of a small sell-off-and US Futures are higher at this point.
Gold, Silver and most metals are lower-while oil is also slightly lower.
HAVE A GREAT DAY & GOOD LUCK
Bobbys Corner-Open Market-December.6.2011
Good Morning:
Risk 0ff after yesterday’s late afternoon announcement by S&P that they are putting 17 European countries on a negative credit watch.
This negative watch may lead to possible downgrades.
In other S&P news-they have reaffirmed China’s Aa/A-1+ rating.
S&P seems to be interested in politics again, after downgrading the US this summer. S&P commented that the “continued disagreements among European policy makers” was a main reason for the downgrade warning. Many feel that S&P should back off-as the downgrade watch just complicates solving the EU debt crisis.
With the EU meeting for yet another summit in Brussels on Dec 8 and 9-analysts questioned the timing of the S&P move.
Ahead of the summit-German Chancellor Merkel and French President Sarkozy will present a plan to rewrite the EU’s governing treaty to enforce tighter economic controls over member countries.
The crisis has already led to bailouts for Greece,Ireland and Portugal-and it looks like Italy is next in line.
World equity markets were mostly lower-but US futures are slightly higher.
HAVE A GREAT DAY & GOOD LUCK
Bobbys Corner-Open Market-December.5.2011
Good Morning:
The euro was stronger against the JPY and USD to start the week. The Italian government approved a new deficit reduction plan ahead of this week’s European summit to discuss the Euro Zone’s sovereign debt issues. The new plan will include new taxes on luxury items, delay in state employee’s retirement age, and a levy on first time home buyers.
The Euro strength came on the heels of a proposal for ECB loans to be channeled through the IMF.
The proposal is loaded with problems of it’s own. Many feel that the IMF is just not big enough to sustain large financing for the Euro Zone. Also, there is concern that members of the undeveloped member countries will feel that too much of the IMF’s funds and resources will be diverted to the Euro Zone.
World equity markets are higher-as are US Futures.
Oil is slightly higher-but Gold is lower.
HAVE A GREAT DAY & GOOD LUCK
Loading ...
