Bobbys Corner-Open Market-May.16.2012

Good Morning:

Cable lost some steam after BOE’s King made comments that the UK recovery will be “slow and uncertain”.  With the UK financial sector
exposed to the Euro Zone and their current crisis, there will be continued pressure on their economy.
Inflation in the UK inched higher-while growth in the nation slowed.

The Euro lost steam-and dropped below the 1.27 level in overnight trading.  The continued concerns over Greece, and that Spain will face “astronomical” borrowing cost (according to Rajoy)-there is a risk that the markets may stop lending to the country-which would cause a major credit crisis throughout the region.  These components all lead to the drop in the euro.

Gold is lower-at $1540/oz. Oil is also lower.
Asia equity markets were lower-and Europe is mostly higher except for the FTSE.
Dow Futures are also higher at this time.

HAVE A GREAT DAY & GOOD LUCK

Bobys Corner-Open Market-April.5.2012

Good Morning:

As we start the pre holiday get away-the markets were shocked when the EUR/CHF fell below the 1.20 peg level.
The SNB is staying committed to buying FX in the marketplace to defend their 1.20 cap on EUR/CHF.
This put the euro on the defensive all morning.  As European equity markets were taking a hit-the euro zone periphery bonds yields rose-and the euro took a hit.  Continued nervousness in the euro zone is also adding pressure to the euro.

Spanish/German 10 year bond spreads widen further to 401 bps.
France sold a total of 8.439 billion euros in various auctions.  The yields were higher-but the participation was just shy of the upside of 8.5 billion euros. 

The Bank of England left interest rates unchanged-as expected.  QE remains stable at 325 billion GPBs.

Asian equity markets were mostly lower-Europe is lower-and US Futures are also lower at this time.

Gold and silver are higher.

Oil is trading at $101.59/bbl.

Tomorrow we have US employment data at 8:30 AM-even with much of the world out for Good Friday and the Easter weekend-it should be a very interesting day.  

HAVE A GREAT DAY & GOOD LUCK

Bobbys Corner-Open Market-March.21.2012

Good Morning:

China was in the spotlight today-as reports show that China’s banking sector is set to report record earnings, but the dark cloud over all of this is that the percentage of bad loans is also rising.
The Chinese economy grew by  8.9% last quarter, which is the slowest pace in over 2 years. The European debt crisis slowed exports, and the slowdown in the real estate markets were all contributors to the slowdown in the overall Chinese economy.

The BOE’s minutes were released and it was an unanimous decision to leave interest rates steady-and 2 out of the 9 members voted for additional QE.

Asian indexes were mostly lower.  Europe is down across the board, and US Futures are marginally higher.

Oil is trading at $106.25/bbl.
Gold and Silver are all higher.

HAVE A GREAT DAY & GOOD LUCK

Bobbys Corner-Open Market-March.8.2012

Good Morning:

The ECB left their benchmark interest rates unchanged at 1%.  We will await Mr. Draghi’s press conference to get the lowdown on the EU situation.  The press conference will be at 8:30 AM EST.
The Bank of England also left interest rates uncharged-as was widely expected.
Word is that the Greek bond swap is going well, and it looks like they have about a 60% participation at this time.  The deadline is at 10PM this evening-Athens time.  The bond swap would reduce over 53% of Greek debt.  Speculation is that the goal will be met by today’s deadline.

World equity markets all posted and are posting positive results.  US Futures are also higher.

WTI oil is higher-closing in on $107/bbl.  Gold and silver along with the commodity markets in general are all higher.

Markets will be a bit on edge-as we await Friday’s payroll and employment data.

HAVE A GREAT DAY & GOOD LUCK

Bobbys Corner-Open Market-March.1.2012

Good Morning:

Yesterday’s comments from Fed Chairman Bernanke took the steam out of any additional Fed stimulus in the short end.  The marketplace still seems to feel that the Fed will eventually do a 3rd round of their QE program-but no indication was given of when any additional QE would take place.  As the jobs markets tries to do a little better-the  Fed will monitor the situation, and act accordingly.

In other news-The Bank of England’s Miles sees  the UK QE program as very worthwhile.  The QE helped keep Gilt yields lower, along with the UK’s safe haven status, kept the nation’s economy from teetering.

Asian equity markets were lower, while European equity markets are higher-along with US Futures.

Oil is higher-over $107/bbl.  Gold is also inching up.

HAVE A GREAT DAY & GOOD LUCK

Bobbys Corner-Open Market-Feb.9.2012

Good Morning:

The ECB left interest rates unchanged at 1%-which was highly expected by market participants.
The BOE also left interest rates unchanged at .5%-and will increase their QE asset purchases.

The European Troika gave Greece an additional 15 days to find 300 million euros of pension cuts.  This seems to be a major stumbling block, and the process will be stalled until this issue is taken care of.

The ECB left interest rates unchanged-as the ECB is taking a “wait and see” approach to the Greek bailout deal.
Greek leaders could not come up with a full austerity plan-and the Greek Finance Minister is on his way to Brussels.  He was expected in Brussels to meet with EU leaders with a completed plan-he now goes to plead his countries case-Again-to EU leaders.

Gold, Silver and gold are all higher.

Asian equity markets were lower-Europe is flat-US Futures are higher.

HAVE A GREAT DAY & GOOD LUCK

Bobbys Corner-Open Market-January.12.2012

Good Morning:

Spanish and Italian bond auctions fared very well-with yields on the Italian bonds falling up to 40bps in the wake of strong demand.
The euro rose to the 1.2750 level-which is where we are sitting on presently.

As expected the ECB left interest rates unchanged at 1%. 
The BOE also kept interest rates unchaged at .5%-and left the asset purchase program in place.
Fitch Rating’s Riley stated that Italy faces a “material risk” of a downgrade by the end of the month.

US Treasury Sec’t Geithner is in Asia looking for support on oil sanctions against Iran. He should be in the US working on how to rebuild the US economy-not traveling the world.
China has rejected limiting oil imported from Iran-but Japan will be joining the sanctions.  Japan has been in talks with Saudi Arabia to replace any oil that they will not get from Iran.

Gold-Silver & Oil are all higher.

Asian equity markets  were lower-while Europe is higher.  US Futures are also higher.  

HAVE A GREAT DAY & 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

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