Another week, another on off threat from President Trump: this time to close the US border with Mexico. No avocadoes is the least of the problems faced by Texas and California which would be hardest hit. The aim is to stem the flow of illegal drugs and immigrants from Mexico but while it may impede the former, it will do little to achieve the latter and in addition will be both complex and very costly. Meanwhile our own SGM-FX “Tex Mex” Charles Porter is polishing up his Spanish and getting ready for those Taco trades.
Sombrero on, Carlos!
German factory orders were poor as signposted yesterday and for good measure German growth forecasts were also cut. Despite this the emerging US China story about successful trade talks was enough to outweigh that poor news and the Dax rose. Asian stock markets are little changed this morning. Oil firm with WTI at $62.14. Currencies flat except for GBP slightly firmer on slightly better mood music on a deal between Westminster’s warring factions. All eyes on this afternoon’s US payroll figures.
It will no doubt be amazing, but for long suffering Londoners this week’s report brings no relief at all on when Crossrail will be opened; the best that they can do is say that the earliest will be in 2020, which is no doubt code for the end of 2020, which is 21 months away from today or 630 days or 1260 journeys or quite enough to get very cross given the money spent, the cutting edge tech and the Bombardier rolling stock.
For all you train spotters including SGM-FX’s Euan, the trains will be 200 metres long with a capacity of 1500 passengers. So that further 21 month delay equates to 1,890,000 passenger journeys. Grrrrrrrr. Calm down, Euan!
Discussion and Analysis by Humphrey Percy, Chairman and Founder
Next level EURUSD has managed a relatively smooth ascent to its current levels, around 1.18. That is despite significant resistance levels, most notably around 1.17. A large collection of option strike prices gathered around this key level and the price history of the pair shows us its significance. Sustained closes above this level since last […]
A weaker Dollar: Trump vs. Powell The Dollar continued to lose ground yesterday as the truce between Israel and Iran appeared to continue to hold. There has been a noticeable return to focus upon macro and monetary influences in major currency pairs. Yesterday, Fed Chair Jay Powell provided his semi-annual monetary policy report before the […]
Whiplash A highly volatile start to yesterday’s trading session saw a flight to safety in markets. Despite the Dollar having lost much of its appeal as a safe haven lately, there was still an identifiable USD bid prior to and during the European open. We have identified recently how markets have clearly differentiated between general […]