Data overnight was actually better across the board, which is something we haven’t seen in a while.  German and French PMIs contracted at a slower pace than expected, although you can hardly say they provided clear optimism. US initial claims were lower than forecast at 340,000, while home sal...

Copper is down 2% as traders press the sell button, after the HSBC Chinese PMI came in below expectations at 49.6, with analysts expecting a positive reading of 50.5. Not only did the report come in below estimates, as the reading was below 50.0 it was the first contraction in Chinese manufacturing...

Following the Federal Reserve’s ‘as you were’ statement, the EUR/USD currency cross has remained stable. Not even two of the Fed’s team of twelve calling for an end to quantitative easing (QE) has managed to see the EUR/USD currency cross break out of its 1.3200 to 1.2800 range. I suspect that most...

Equity investors have had a fantastic run this year - it has been hugely profitable and ‘seemingly’ risk-free…..until now that is.  Despite the world economy still being far from rosy, company valuations have soared to unseen levels. They have benefitted from huge injections of cash into the f...

EUR/USD experienced significant volatility after a spike to $1.300 was greeted by sellers and it dropped all the way down to $1.283 on the back of USD strength.  Today is a big day for the single currency, with several PMI readings set to be released. These will give a better indication of how...

The euro is higher versus the US dollar ahead of this afternoon's statement from US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke. The euro is trading at $1.2928, up 0.18%, as traders wait to hear from Mr Bernanke at 3pm (London time). Lately, there has been talk that the Fed is considering reducing the si...

European equity markets look set to open marginally lower after what was another strong day for equities on Tuesday.  In what was a quiet day with no major economic data of note in the US, comments made by more Fed presidents proved to be the drivers for markets, again. This time QE was in fav...

The USD was back in focus as more Fed members hit the wires ahead of tomorrow’s FOMC meeting minutes and Fed Chief Ben Bernanke’s testimony. Overnight we heard from Fed members Mr Bullard and Mr Dudley. Mr Bullard was quite dovish, highlighting that low inflation makes it hard to make a case for ta...

Ahead of tomorrow’s important speech from US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, EUR/USD is a touch lower. Speculation around the City at the tail-end of last week revolved around the Fed beginning to reduce its quantitative easing measures. Tomorrow Ben Bernanke is unlikely to announce that the...