SGM-FX insights

Growth   The word growth over the past few months has usually involved a discussion about the spread of Covid-19 and the change in the number of infections. But in normal times economic growth is discussed more as one of the main drivers of the value of a currency. Coupled with an appreciation of relative […]

FTSE   Four months ago in the more innocent days of February, FTSE stood at 7,500 before plummeting to 5000 in late March. Now at 6,100 FTSE is looking less certain despite the historic degree of support and stimulus from the UK Government and while the US market has largely shrugged off March with the […]

Global Markets   Following the Federal Reserve’s downbeat forecast, markets duly gave up some of the gains they have enjoyed in the past few trading sessions since the US Employment figures of last week Equity markets were down and the S&P after close in Europe by 5% which bodes badly for the end of the […]

Bitcoin   It’s been a few weeks since we have written about BTC or Bitcoin. At the beginning of March you may recall it was trading at $8000 before plummeting to $5000-yes I have written before about the need for strong trading stomachs for this particular index and the liquidity issues and and and… Anyway […]

Spot the Difference     What do the following two graphs have in common?         Points for the best answer: they both have a blue line, they both demonstrate limited finesse on Excel, they both don’t have labels on their axes? You’re all correct, but the true problem hidden beneath these graphs […]

OPEC+: Herding Cats   Pre meeting on Thursday the so called delinquent members of the cartel- Iraq and Nigeria in particular – reneged on their commitments to cut production. The largest members KSA and Russia in turn have said that if they do not adhere to the line agreed by OPEC+, then they in turn […]

Renault   Maubeuge not far from Douai in northern France has a Renault factory that is pretty much at a standstill and so management are wondering if it should be part of the EUR2 billion and 14,600 job cuts that they need to make worldwide of which one third will be in France. Anyone who […]

A step too far   There is a widespread feeling within markets that valuations have gone too far too soon. For example, you’d find it difficult to find someone willing to argue that the equity market today reflects the severity of the impending recession and the erosion of corporate earnings. The thing that has defined […]

OPEC+   News that Russia has dropped its objections to Algeria which currently holds the presidency of OPEC arranging for an early get together to help out its pals Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE is set to liven up the oil market this week with a date now set for Thursday. With WTI at […]

Australia: A window on the future of print   Newscorp the owner of print and on line publications across the world has called time on more than 100 local and regional printed papers in Australia. All 110 will from now on only be available on line. This is part of a widespread review of the […]

Here we go again   As the China-US trade war progressed and the Hong Kong protests continued last year, there was increasing chatter of the implications to the USDHKD peg. 2019 saw bets against the Hong Kong Dollar reach record levels as investors positioned themselves for a potential organised devaluation. We cautioned at the time […]

Valuation Check   As the second trading day of this week begins it is apparent that the market is enjoying a wave of optimism. Due to the distress in financial markets throughout the lockdown we have seen the cyclical price action of meandering sentiment feed through to the foreign exchange markets more strongly than ever. […]