Day: May 18, 2016

May 18
2016

EUR/USD Breaks Down After FOMC Minutes

EUR/USD was moving sideways for two days but started to break down today. The decline intensified sharply after the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting proved to be sufficiently hawkish to revive speculations about an interest rate hike in June. Crude oil inventories rose 1.3 million barrels last week, staying at the historic high level for this time of year. Analysts completely missed with their forecasts of a drop by 3.1 […]

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May 18
2016

Japan’s Economy Emerges from Recession, Yen Not Impressed

Japan’s economy emerged from a recession, growing in the first three months of 2016. Yet this did not translate into a rally of the Japanese yen. Japan’s gross domestic product expanded 0.4% in the first quarter of this year according the preliminary estimate. Economists had predicted slower growth by 0.1%. The yen had attempted to rally after the report, but the rally was short-lived. It looks like market participants were not […]

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May 18
2016

Pound Firm After Employment Data & Brexit Polls

The Great Britain pound was very strong today, gaining on it major rivals, even the US dollar that itself was also firm. The reason for the amazing performance was the employment report and the Brexit polls. The polls show that more than a half of Britons prefer to stay in the European Union. It is good news for the sterling as an exit from the EU would likely cause a financial turmoil on markets. As for employment data, it […]

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May 18
2016

Euro Loses Ground Against Dollar, Pound

Euro is lower today against the dollar and the pound as concerns about the eurozone economy compare unfavorably to better data coming out of the United States and relief out of the United Kingdom. Euro is heading lower as policy divergence becomes more likely. Better economic news out of the United States is spurring talk of a rate hike later in 2016, a move that would leave the euro behind. Also, with the chances of a Brexit […]

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May 18
2016

Kiwi Lower on New Zealand Data & US Dollar Rally

The New Zealand dollar was trading below the opening level today as poor economic data from New Zealand and gains of the US dollar put pressure on the currency. The New Zealand Producer Price Index input fell 1.0% while output was down 0.2% in March. The data was noticeably worse that economists’ predictions, and it hurt the kiwi (as the New Zealand currency is nicknamed). Meanwhile, the US Dollar Index gained […]

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May 18
2016

Australian Dollar Retreats as Wage Inflation Misses Expectations

The Australian dollar fell today, following yesterday’s rally, as slower-than-expected wage growth made traders reluctant to buy the currency. Australia’s Wage Price Index rose 0.4% in the March quarter from the previous three months, narrowly missing the analysts’ estimate of 0.5%. Yesterday, the Reserve Bank of Australia released minutes of its latest policy meeting, which turned out to be not that dovish, helping the Aussie to rally. Tomorrow, employment data […]

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