Macroeconomic Analysis And Trading Ideas
AUDNZD Long Fundamentally we have the Reserve Bank of Australia with a neutral stance and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand with a neutral stance after the latest rate cut. In fact the NZ CPI Figures are scheduled for this week before we head into the showdown of the RBNZ in the last week of January. I am expecting a drop in NZ CPI Figures of round about -0.5%, while the newest Dairy Auction should bring a negative result for milk price pouder what should force the RBNZ to act further this year and give up the neutral stance. Further the El Nino should have a much bigger Impact on NZ's Economy than on Australia Economy. The Reserve Bank of Australia should keep the Cash Rate unchanged throughout the year. The only thing i am worried about are the falling coal and iron ore prices what is more related to Australias ToT. Further the weakness surrounding about china is more bad news for the Land Down Under than for NZ because Australia Export round about 33 % to China, while NZ is only within the game with round about 20%.
Technically we are also preparing for a big move higher. This does not mean it could happens this or next week. But should the NZ CPI Figures and Dairy Prices tank, than the RBNZ has to act again. Currently the RBNZ expects CPI to shrink to -0.2%. But as said earlier, I am expecting a drop to -0.5%. Anyway, in the weekly and monthly chart we are forming a nice head and shoulders reversal pattern. What i am also wanted to say is: The iron ore and coal prices what i am worried about has fallen significantly already and the AUD adjusted to them a lot already. Anyway, short term we still have space to go a bit down to my area, but i am not thinking about that the AUD/NZD could test the Parity again. Further when we scroll back in history, we are at one of the most important support zones for this pair, what makes me more confident about it. Please let me know what you think. Thank you! Have a great sunday
Markets Shake with Impending Rate HikeThe bullish run for the markets appears to be slowing especially as the impending interest rate hike gets becomes more of a reality. Some bearish signs are especially prevalent for QQQ, as we see a relative vacuum area from below and lots of room before we hit any resistance from the Ichimoku cloud. Moreover, the RSI, MACD and OBV all indicate an unfortunate turn of momentum for this asset.
For profit targets, consider the first fibonacci level at around 111.59, or the high of 10/22 at 109.82. Be especially wary of 115.52 as it corresponds to a recent high and a fibonacci level concurrently.
Bitcoin: A Commodity?Bitcoin has long been a favorite for those looking for an alternative to centralized fiat money. Although I always thought bitcoin was promising, the technological aspect always held safety and liquidity concerns. Due to the fact that it is hard to prove peer-to-peer transactions, financial institutions - especially in the U.S. - have strict policies and layers of purchase authenticity that make buyers wait from a few hours or longer to actually receive the bitcoin.
Could the inception of other bitcoin trading products add to liquidity or the general acceptance of bitcoin? Recently, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has designated that bitcoin is a commodity. By doing so, adding bitcoin derivatives is an attempt to regulate the bitcoin market.
Some find it strange that the CFTC has said that bitcoin, among other digital currencies, has the same properties as physical commodities like gold or oil. It is true that there is a defined supply of bitcoin, but it is more than likely that the designation is more of an attempt to regulate than to legitimize bitcoin as a true commodity.
Furthermore, the addition of bitcoin derivatives could simply open up the bitcoin market to more traders. Because let's face it, on a day-to-day period, trading bitcoin can be a snooze-fest. With futures trading being as digital as bitcoin, less than five percent of futures are ever exercised for delivery which may lead to more bitcoin speculation.
One thing is certain: bitcoin could an alternative to traditional safe-haven assets. For the last year, I have been the only one, that I know of, that has noticed that bitcoin has been trading the inverse of the most traditional safe-haven - gold. Bitcoin's largest movements seem to stem from money flowing in and out of gold.
Unfortunately, in a crisis situation, I believe gold would win because it is tangible and that is physiologically comforting. If gold garners support from another central bank led financial crisis, bitcoin could see dark days.
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GBPCAD 4 HOUR LONGPRICE AT AN IMPORTANT KEY LEVEL AND JUST BOUNCED OFF THE RESISTANCE TURNED SUPPORT FORMING A DOUBLE BOTTOM. ALSO THIS KEY LEVEL IS IN CONFLUENCE WITH THE 0.5 FIB LEVEL. GBP AVERAGE HOURLY EARNINGS IS EXPECTED TO COME OUT BETTER AT 2.2% AND THE REASON WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT IS BECAUSE THE BOE (BANK OF ENGLAND) SAID THEY'LL BE MONITORING HOURLY EARNINGS DATA. IF THIS DATA DOES COME OUT GOOD WE SHOULD SEE SOME DECENT STRENGTH IN THE POUND. A BREAK OF THE COUNTER TRENDLINE WE COULD EASILY REACH TO THE SWING HIGHS AS I BELIEVE THE UPTREND IS STILL VERY MUCH IN TACT.
Trading FundamentalsI personally follow 4 central banks in detail: FED (USD), ECB (EUR), BoJ (JPY) and BoE (GBP). Knowing the monetary policies of these banks and how they differ, helps me in trading the following 6 major pairs: EU, GU, UJ, EJ, EG and GJ. I also follow three other central banks, be it more at a distance and with less detail: SNB, RBA and BoC. The banks to follow would normally depend on your trading portfolio.
Central banks monitor the following five economic areas:
I) Growth. Referring to whether an economy is expanding or contracting. On the economic calendar, there are several indicators on the health of the economy such as (not a complete list):
-Business climate
-Gross domestic product
-Personal spending index
-Retail sales
-Consumer confidence / sentiment
II) Inflation. Referring to how costs of goods and services develop. On the economic calendar, you will find:
-Consumer price index
-Producer price index
-Retail price index
-Core price index
III) Employment. Referring to a countries labour force. On the economic calendar, you will find:
-Unemployment change
-Unemployment claims
-Jobless claims
-Non farm payroll
IV) Production. Simply put, this refers to the things a country makes. On the economic calendar, you will find:
-Factory orders
-Core machinery orders
-Building permits
-Industrial production
-Purchasing managers' index
V) Geopolitical. Referring to anything non-economic that could cause risk in the market. Think of things like elections, natural disasters and wars.
Central banks watch these areas and have specific targets for them (for instance inflation 2%, unemployment 8%). If a central bank is focussed on an indicator and sees it´s off target, there are several tools it can use to affect the indicator.
A) Changing interest rates. Raising them cuts inflation and encourages investors to come in, thereby increasing demand for the national currency. For example the FED is believed to plan a rate hike this year that will further strengthen the USD.
B) Setting price limits. The value of a currency impacts exports, so banks can make sure a pair will not drop below a certain amount and will spent millions buying foreign currency the weaken their own. For example the SNB until recently had a cap on EURCHF to artificially weaken their currency. We all know what happened when that cap was suddenly removed.
C) Quantitative easing. This is basically printing money to spur the economy and inflation. It weakens the currency by increasing the availability of it. Good example is the recently announced powerful QE programme by the ECB, leading to selling pressure for the Euro.
D) Using certain language. With press conferences, minutes of meetings, speeches or written statements a central bank can influence the market and thereby the value of its currency. Good examples are public statements by Draghi, president of the ECB. The EU pair can move hundreds of pips while he speaks.
The key to trading fundamentals, is understanding what a central bank might do to move the value of an indicator towards its target. So when news comes out, you can asses if it will make the central bank more or less likely to use a certain tool and consequently if that news event weakens or strengthens the currency.
For example: towards the end of 2014, the inflation in the Eurozone had fallen to very low values. The ECB had tried several things (like lowering the rates) to up the inflation (for which it has a target of 2%), but to no effect. The only thing left to do, was a QE programme. So with every new Eurozone cpi that came out lower than expected, the probability of a QE program increased, so the euro weakened instantly upon the release of that cpi data.
AUDUSD 4 HOUR SHORTPrice bounced off the 0.236 fib several times forming a evening star and then several bearish pinbar candlestick patterns in a row. This is indicating selling pressure, we could see price advance to the downside soon. My preference is a rally up to the 0.5 fib in confluence with some structure but advancing up to that level is looking less likely. RBA meeting on Tuesday so id advise to get in before the meeting because im confident RBA will be dovish which will weaken AUD causing AUDUSD to plummet
Higher rates thoughts push down EurStay short EurGbp or, if you prefear, long GBP!
Since the macro economic data started to improve, the pressure on the exchange rate has became stronger. The beginning of rates normalization will make the UK's currency more expansive versus the Euromoney.
At the same time, the chart seems to confirm the bearish view: It is unlikely (given also the macro-analysis) that the price will brake-up the current level @0.7895, looking also at the RSI oscillator (in 60 area), we have no signs of bullish trend beginnin. My view is that the price will continue its down trend, following the channel you can clearly see on the charts.
Take care of 0.78 area that could be a strong point of inversion or continuation of the trend.
Is Draghi going to rescue the EUR? ECB Pre-Analysis 7/8/14We saw that the uptrend from the end of 2013 got destroyed just by one sentence:
"We are going to manage the strenght of the Euro against the Dollar in June."
The market got in a really overextended selling rally. Additional to that "market panic" positive US ecenomy values got released and Ukraine crisis destroyed stocks and indices of the european countries. This summary of negative influence on the EUR pushed the EUR/USD to a new yearly low.
But a big part of this rally was just a psychological reaction of the market participants after the statment of Mario Draghi.
This baseless loss of value is a kind of movement which gets a correction shortly after its happening. But the fundamental status prevented this "correction" after the loss of ca.300 points from 1.3993 towards 1.37 the market never experienced the correction of this 300 point rally.
Therefore I expect a correctional movement towards FIB 50% or towards the MA 200 just for the cause of giving the EUR/USD its fair price.
Black swan events: How currencies react - YenApologies for the ominous chart title on a Monday morning, but having spent the weekend watching a few documentaries about the Japan earthquake, I was intrigued on how the currency markets react to black swan events.
The Story (Japan Earthquake - Yen)
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The Tohoku earthquake hits Japan on 11th March. What we see is a sell off in USDJPY... In other words, people were selling USD to buy the Yen. Goes to show how strongly the markets believe in the Yen as a safe haven even if crisis comes to Japan.
After a sharp drop, G7 central banks intervene in the markets to offer support. So they start buying USD and selling Yen, which forms an interim rally.
On 04/07 BoJ announces a stimulus package, which triggers another sell off in the markets. Few days later, Fukushima nuclear alert is given which sparks a continuation of the sell off.
This time it breaks the CB's support as well.
I could go on but follow the notes on the chart backed up by the news sources that explains the currency moves.
PS: For all those ECB QE addicts, I stumbled upon a very nice article which is worth reading and could possibly shed light on how European QE could work:
Source: yhoo.it
PPS: The chart is incomplete... There's just too much happening when it comes to the Yen.