The single currency continues to appreciate aggressively and reached new four-year highs at 1.2355 during the European session. The key driver behind euro’s rally since the start of the year is the increasing bearish pressure around the greenback. But the December ECB meeting minutes, which were more “hawkish”, has contributed to the upbeat mood around the...
Crude oil prices have been range-bound over the last few days due to a relative balance of bearish and bullish factors. Despite the current consolidation, there is a downside slope in Brent which may be a sign of buyers’ fatigue and a prelude to a local bearish correction. Since peak of $70.35 in mid-January, Brent started a smooth retreat and slipped to the...
The Bank of Japan two-day meeting ending on Tuesday is not expected to bring any changes in the monetary policy, but it doesn’t mean it will be an uneventful one. Earlier this month, the regulator trimmed the QQE purchases slightly. Despite the action is assessed by the market as a purely technical measure, investors took it as a sign the Japanese monetary...
The British pound jumped to a fresh post-Brexit vote high of 1.3945 against the US dollar. However, the pair wasn’t able to sustain gains above the 1.39 threshold and has retreated after the disappointing UK economic data. According to the official figures from ONS, retail sales fell 1.5% month on month in December, which was a much stronger decline than analysts...
The greenback remains under pressure against major rivals. However, the currency started to signal the potential recovery lately. The recent example of this was yesterdays’ reaction to the Fed’s Beige Book. The report was fairly “hawkish” as the central bank has confirmed its intention to hike rates three times this year. The release triggered renewed dollar...
Bitcoin plummeted 25% overnight and was testing the key $10,000 mark in Asia today. The attempts to break the psychological level attracted some buyers, but the momentum is too sluggish to expect a more robust recovery. The digital currency remains under the regulators’ thumb. Asian governments are committed to widening their crackdown on cryptocurrency trading....
The greenback is attempting to stage a recovery on Tuesday, but after the Asian demand, momentum has faltered. The current widespread strengthening doesn’t look convincing and will likely attract a new wave of selloff in the short term. The potential US government shutdown this Friday is in favor of such developments. The risk of a shutdown has increased recently,...
Bitcoin is trying to stage a recovery early this week, but struggles to gain momentum as bears are still in control of the virtual currency. Today’s gains are so far capped by the $13,770 mark. The cryptocurrency is up 2.2% on the day. Despite the downside pressure has marginally eased lately, and the price doesn’t leave attempts to regain the local resistance...
Gold prices are rising for a third straight session on Friday. Spot price reached the mid-September high of $1,333.08, up 0.7% on the day and is set for a fifth straight week of gains. Since December 1 the metal has climbed almost 4%. A widespread weakness in dollar is the key driver behind the current bullish rally in gold. Judging by the persistent USD selloff,...
Following the yesterdays’ selloff, the US dollar is trying to stage a comeback on Thursday, after Chinese government officials played down the reports that China is going to reduce its US Treasury holdings. However, the momentum looks limited as the bulls are taking a wait-and-see approach ahead of tomorrow’s key US economic data. The market will analyze CPI...
Bitcoin is falling for a fourth-straight day to trade at one-week lows in the $13,150 area. Following a brief breach of the $17,000 mark, the price failed to preserve its gains and have surrendered to the bears again. Over the last three weeks, the digital currency plummeted 30%. The recent retreat is due to growing concerns over the regulatory and government...
The Japanese yen jumped higher overnight as the BoJ announced trimming longer-dated JGB purchases. This decision was viewed by the market as the first small step towards the monetary policy normalization in the country at a time when other major central banks are about to start reducing stimulus. In a knee-jerk reaction, the USDJPY pair dropped 0.5% and touched...
The loonie was the star of the day on Friday, fuelled by a spectacular Canadian jobs report for December. Following November's 79,500 increase, jobs rose by 78,600, beating the modest market estimate of +2,000. It was the thirteenth consecutive month of employment growth. Moreover, the unemployment rate dropped by 0.2% to a record low of 5.7%. The impressive...
Brent is relatively stable around its fresh mid-2015 highs above $68, though on Friday it started to signal a bearish correction and has briefly slipped under the psychological mark, which may trigger profit taking at very attractive levels. The recent rally was fueled by a number of bullish factors, including further drop in the US crude oil inventories, civil...
After a two-day rise, bitcoin is under pressure again. The price struggles to regain bullish momentum and overcome the $15,000 barrier, though the current pressure is limited. Earlier BTC fell to an intraday low of $14,091.95, while the intraday high was set at $15,400. The largest cryptocurrency is deprived of fundamental drivers for now, especially amid...
The US dollar will likely face new challenges this year after a dismal 2017, when the currency suffered losses against all of its G10 peers. The EURUSD pair hit a four-month high of $1.2080 overnight and bounced a bit on Wednesday amid local profit taking. However, the general tone around USD remains bearish. A number of global central banks are expected to signal...
Bitcoin tried to stage a recovery but faced another major hurdle. In particular, South Korea signaled a possibility of a shutdown of local cryptocurrency exchanges. The government is planning to introduce new regulation which may include the prohibition of anonymous trading accounts operating in the country. Considering that South Korea accounts for nearly...
The EURUSD’s rally gained traction on Thursday on the back of a broad-based US dollar weakness exacerbated by the year-end thin trading. A new wave of aggressive selling in the buck was mainly provoked by the recent declines in Treasury yields and adjusting positions ahead of the New Year’s holidays. The pair extended the rally above 1.19 and encountered...