27/ 12/ 2017

Markets in Dull Holiday Trading

The Dollar continues to struggle through the holiday season, with volumes on the lighter side and sentiment still relatively subdued towards a possible Dollar rebound in the New Year.

Beyond thin Holiday’s Trading, the greenback has become unattractive ever since the latest Fed’s meeting, and there’s little that can change that until February when Powell takes over the Presidency of the Central bank.

Looking ahead, the European macroeconomic calendar has nothing to offer, while in the US, the only relevant release will be New Home Sales for November.

24/ 12/ 2017

Week Ahead | Markets on Holiday Mode

The last week before the holidays saw the dollar mostly lower, with congress passing the Tax bill back and forth and finally getting it ready for Trump’s Signature. US data was mixed: big beats on building permits and housing starts were countered by a miss on durable goods orders.

The Canadian dollar enjoyed the positive inflation and retail sales numbers while the pound was struck by political developments related to Brexit, as usual, but received a small upgrade on annual GDP.

The last week of 2017 is a holiday week that features low trading volume and liquidity. This usually results in quiet trading, but can also see surprising sparks with political developments.

21/ 12/ 2017

It’s all about the Dollar Today

The tax bill has been finally passed but it does not seem to have had as much effect on the markets as one would have expected it to have. In fact, it has had an opposite kind of effect on a classic note of buy the rumor and sell the fact move. The dollar is being sold across the board since yesterday and has been moving lower and the US stock indices have also been under pressure. This is in contrast to the dollar strength and the index move up that we had been seeing over the last couple of weeks, in anticipation of this tax bill.

Now, as we head to the holidays, we are seeing the dollar on the backfoot and this is likely to last for the short term.

20/ 12/ 2017

A 2nd House Vote on Tax Reforms to Influence the Dollar

Euro is trading as the strongest currency this week as boosted by a surge in German yields. Meanwhile, Dollar is holding a soft tone after House passed the tax bill and then came back with a hiccup. Nonetheless, the Chambers will probably pass the unified version on Wednesday, giving it enough time for President Donald Trump to sign it before Christmas. The House passed Republican's tax bill yesterday with 227-203 votes. However, as the Senate's parliamentarian said that the so-called Byrd Rule was violated by three provisions of the bill, House will have to vote again on a Senate amended plan.

The House will be voting for a 2nd time on the tax reform bill later today, following a procedural error on Monday, which has left the markets in limbo, with BoE Governor Carney scheduled to speak on what’s a relatively quiet day on the data front.