Fundamental ANALYSIS

The Not so Gold Rush
Saturday, 27 October 2012
Gold is a commodity that everyone enjoys having a piece of- regardless of whether it was a holiday gift from a relative or investing in it via the FOREX market. Read more >>

Australian Dollar Close to Parity on RBA Interest Rate Decision
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
After opening this week close to the 99.00 level, the AUD/USD is holding its ground in preparation for the RBA rate decision later this week. Whilst there is an expectation in the market for no change to the official cash rate in the country, many commentators have signalled that there is still a very slight chance that the RBA could raise rates to 4.75% or potentially higher. Read more >>

NZD/USD Soars as Hobbit Movie Stays in New Zealand
Monday, 1 November 2010
With the recent stoush concerning New Zealand vs Warner Bros, the announcement was made on Wednesday last week that the Hobbit movie will continue to be filmed on set in New Zealand. This comes after much debate as to whether or not the producers of the movie would allow the countries lax employment laws to be accepted for actors and actresses in the movie. Read more >>

RBNZ Keeps Official Cash Rate Unchanged
Thursday, 28 October 2010-10-28
Many traders were looking to the NZD/USD overnight for trading opportunities to the upside - as the Reserve Bank of New Zealand released its opinion on official cash rates. Whilst the market was expecting no change in the official cash rate (which has been at 3% for a number of months now) - there was the odd trader who was hoping to see the rate increased, so that the RBNZ could get ahead of the yield curve. Read more >>

Australian Dollar Soars on Excellent Economic Data
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
The Australian Dollar has been the best performer so far this week, and we believe that it is in for a continuation of the ride that it has had. The currency was boosted by the G-20 talks (which we didn't think were going to have much impact at all to be honest) and has been further boosted today by data which was released in the Australian session. Read more >>

Euro Remains Poised Above 1.4000 with G20 Summit Approaching
Friday, 22 October 2010
The Euro looks to be poised to remain at relative heights against the USD in to this weekend - and potentially next week, as the G20 summit of powerful nations approaches. In trading during the European session on Thursday, the currency pair remained at elevated levels, despite the fact that quantitative easing measures are looking increasingly unlikely from a fundamental stand point. Read more >>

US Dollar Strength will continue This Week
Tuesday, 19 October 2010
It's Tuesday, so it's time for our weekly wrap up of what happened on the financial markets in the last 7 days. Last week saw some interesting shifts in currency behaviours - as well as some interesting changes on equities markets throughout the world. Let's take a look at what went on - in this week's currency and financial market report. Read more >>

Widening of US Trade Balance in August
Monday, 18 October 2010
New statistics out of the US economy show that the trade balance for the month of August widened yet again. Figures illustrate the exact position that the economy currently finds itself in, and they are extremely interesting - given that the US economy is fast losing ground in the race for the biggest economy in the world. Read more >>

US Dollar Index Gains as Quantitative Easing Expected
Wednesday, 13 October 2010
Since the weekend, there has been a huge amount of rhetoric surrounding the idea that the Fed might look at further quantitative easing measures in the wake of a flailing economy. The US economy is certainly on the downhill road once again - with unemployment continuing to rise (-20,000 jobs in September), and a selection of other economic indicators pointing to worse times ahead. Read more >>

No Rate Change for Bank of England or ECB
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
If you woke up this morning expecting a surprise in the interest rate department, you will be sorely disappointed. On Friday, the ECB and the Bank of England both left official interest rates completely unchanged. For the Bank of England – this is the 19th consecutive month that the rates have stayed where they are. Read more >>

Ireland Suffers Credit Rating Downgrade
Friday, 8 October 2010
Sovereign debtors are supposed to be the most reliable in the world. However, given the horrendous financial crisis suffered by many countries over the last 2 years, sovereign finances have largely been left to wither. Case in point - Ireland. Read more >>

No Rate Change for Australian Central Bank
Thursday, 7 October 2010
After meeting this week to discuss the state of the Australian economy, the RBA (Reserve Bank of Australia) has decided that it won't touch the key official cash rate at this meeting. That means that the official cash rate of the country remains at 4.50%. Read more >>

Bank of Japan Slashes Rates
Wednesday 6 October 2010
Japan is considered by many to be a Westernized country - with much the same financial and technical influence as typical Westernized countries such as USA, UK, and Australia. However, when it comes to sovereign finances, and the macroeconomics of the country, there are a few significant differences between Japan and the aforementioned developed nations. Read more >>

Business Confidence Up In Japan
Friday 1 September 2010
Business confidence rose in Japan in the most recent quarter, with a majority of businesses predicting better times in the coming days and months ahead. The Bank of Japan released the figures, which take in to account the views of 11,000 business in Japan - to give a reliable picture of the state of the exporting economy. Read more >>

AUD/JPY Riding Up Against 81.50 Resistance Level
Thursday, 30 September 2010
The AUD as a currency has been showing a tremendous amount of strength recently, as the Australian economy continues to outperform many others throughout the world. In essence, the AUD has not nearly suffered to the extent of the USD – for example – as the debt issues and the recovery from the recent economic crisis has been a lot smoother. Read more >>

EU Members Club and Unattractive Currency Proposition
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Back when the Eurozone was first formed and the monetary zone was first created, the idea of one central trade zone was an exciting one. Obviously though, in order to enable the coming together of the economic countries, tight entry restrictions had to be placed on each individual member – before their application was accepted. Read more >>

Export Sector Weakens in Japan
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Japan – the country famous for its export sector. Over the last decade or so, Japan has managed to grow this sector exponentially, to the point where the country now relies on the income from this sector more than any other country in the world. However – as we all know – everything in life is subjective. Read more >>

Euro Sovereign Debt is Still Attractive
Sunday, 26 September 2010
Earlier this year, if you asked anyone whether or not they would actively and happily hold on to Eurozone sovereign debt for the long run, the answer would probably have been a laugh and a strong "no". Having just been through a moderate sovereign debt crisis in countries such as Greece and Spain (and these issues are of course continuing) – it would be fairly naÃ¯ve to predict that people would be overly happy to hold Euro sovereign debt for the long term – right? Read more >>

US Believes Chinese Yuan is Overvalued
Friday, 17 September 2010
It has been a fairly obvious fact over the past few years that the Chinese keep a peg on their currency to the US Dollar. What has been equally apparent however is that as the US dollar has significantly weakened, the peg value has changed very little. Read more >>

New Regulation Possible for the EU
Thursday 16 September 2010
Given the recent economic problems which have plagued some Eurozone countries such as Spain and Portugal, the EU body is considering new regulations to toughen up the requirements for banks and nations in the area. Read more >>