Forex Blog

January 19, 2012

US Jobless Claims Fall by 50,000

Filed under: OANDA News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 7:43 am

The number of Americans filing for new jobless benefits dropped to a near four-year low last week, pointing to some building up of momentum in the labor market and the economy. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits plunged 50,000 to a seasonally adjusted 352,000, the lowest level since April 2008, the Labor Department said.

This was the largest drop since September 2005 and is very near the 350,000 level economists say would signal strong job growth. The four-week moving average of claims, considered to be a better measure of labor market trends, dropped 3,500 to 379,000 last week. Analysts had expected initial claims to fall only to 385,000.

Source: Reuters

October 7, 2011

Loonie (CAD) Strengthens On Better Jobs Report!

Filed under: Forex News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 7:55 am

The Canadian Dollar has strengthened this morning after a better than expected employment report showed that the Canadian economy added 60K jobs last month, almost 4 times more than the expected 15K jobs.  This helped push the unemployment rate down to 7.1% from an expected 7.3% and shows signs that the economy north of the border may be quietly improving.

One of the dynamics of the Canadian economy is that it is closely linked to the US economy as we are the largest importer of Canadian goods and services.  The overall mood and feeling in the markets is that the US economy has been teetering near recession so this was seen as bad for Canada as well.  However, this number shows that perhaps there is more life in both economies than had been previously thought.

Should risk continue to abate in the marketplace, then we could envision a return to USD/CAD at 1.02.

July 19, 2011

Bank of America Posts $8.8B Quarterly Loss

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Bank of America – the largest bank in the U.S. – has recorded a record quarterly loss of $8.8 billion. The loss comes after the bank agreed to pay $8.5 bn to investors and insurers in the wake of the sub-prime mortgage scandal. Investors demanded the bank buy back “toxic” loans held in mortgage-backed securities that had been represented as investment grade instruments.

Source: BBC News

March 1, 2011

China Increases US Holdings to Record $1.75 Trillion

Filed under: OANDA News — Tags: , , , , , , , , — admin @ 2:35 pm

It appears that as the euro struggled last year in the face of the European debt crisis, China increased its US holdings to avoid euro losses. Already the largest foreign holder of US debt, China increased it US dollar assets to a record $1.75 trillion in October. With $882.3 billion, Japan remains the second largest holder of US debt.

Source: Bloomberg

Speculation Rises for Bank of Canada Rate Hike

Filed under: OANDA News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 2:26 pm

The fourth quarter of 2010 proved to be a strong revival for the Canadian economy and has observers betting that the Bank of Canada will resume interest rate hikes sooner than previously expected. Overall growth expanded by an annualized rate of 3.3 percent and Stats Canada even revised its Q3 growth rate higher to 1.8 percent from 1.0 percent.

An increase in exports is being heralded as the primary driver and this helped close Canada’s trade deficit from a record C$16.98 billion in Q4 2009 to C$11.05 in Q4 2010.

“It’s a stunning gain in exports,” said Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets. “It’s a fairly solid report and (there’s) plenty of momentum heading into the new year, given the strong gain in December.”

Source: Reuters

October 18, 2010

Treasuries Increase Ahead of Expected Fed Buying

Filed under: OANDA News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 1:40 pm

After suffering the largest weekly drop this year, treasury yields increased on speculation that the Federal Reserve will soon begin a program of asset purchases as part of its planned quantitative easing.

“The market is squarely focused on the Fed, as more easing seems expected,” said Ian Lyngen, a government-bond strategist at CRT Capital Group LLC in Stamford, Connecticut. “The size and structure of more quantitative easing is still open for debate, and the market will be looking for clues until the Fed goes into its blackout period.”

Source: Bloomberg

September 24, 2010

US Durable Goods Up 2% in August

Filed under: OANDA News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 1:35 pm

The US Commerce Department said that new orders for durable goods excluding transportation increased by 2 percent in August after a 2.8 percent decline in July. This is the largest single-month increase since March beating expectations by a full percent.

“Overall, I think it’s a much stronger number than the headline suggests. It was a weak report last month but I think this definitely shows underlying improvement,” said Tom Simons, money market economist at Jefferies & Co. in New York.

Source: Reuters

September 14, 2010

Increase in US Retail Sales Eases Recession Fears

Filed under: OANDA News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 1:13 pm

Retail sales in the US rose 0.4 percent after a 0.3 percent in July. This is the largest gain in five months and is easing concerns that the American economy could fall back into recession.

“It suggests American consumers remain resilient despite the backdrop of high unemployment and declining home values. On the margin, this data reduces some concerns about a double-dip recession,” said Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in Washington.

Source: Reuters

UK Inflation Unchanged at 3.1%

Filed under: OANDA News — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 1:08 pm

The UK Consumer Price Index (CPI) remained unchanged at 3.1 percent in August according to the Office for National Statistics. The result breaks a three-month pattern of falling CPI but remains well above the Bank of England’s target growth rate of 2 percent.

Source: BBC News

August 11, 2010

UK unemployment dips to +2.46m

Filed under: OANDA News — Tags: , , , , , , , — admin @ 12:40 pm

The number of people unemployed in the UK fell by 49,000 to 2.46 million in the three months to June, figures show.

The decline in the jobless total was the biggest drop in three years.

The number of people employed increased by 184,000, the largest quarterly rise since 1989, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

The figures also showed that the claimant count, or those out of work and seeking unemployment benefit, fell by 3,800 in July to 1.46 million. ‘With sharp public sector job cuts looming, we still think that renewed rises in unemployment lie ahead’ said Vicky Redwood Capital Economics

The rise in the number of those employed was largely the result of an increase in the number of part-time workers of 115,000, taking the total to 7.84 million, the highest figure since comparable records began in 1992, the ONS said.

The number of full-time workers increased by 68,000 on the quarter to reach 21.18 million.

BBC

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