SGM-FX insights

As things look to have cooled off within the Korean Peninsula, the nuclear problem looms its head in another area; this time Iran. The run up to the decision had numerous impacts upon markets, with the brunt of the volatility being felt in oil markets.   Following the lifting of sanctions in line with the […]

The signals of last night’s monetary policy decision by the US Federal reserve appear to have been misread. In fact, the initial reaction across equity, treasury and FX markets appeared to imply that markets expected the FED to raise rates during this meeting, despite their persistent and vocal admonitions that a rate hike is not […]

  Fasten your seat-belt, hold the nearest handrail, dump your equities, your Dollars and grab all of the Swiss Francs, Japanese Yen and Gold you can get your hands on. Ignoring the former two imperatives designed to do little more than compensate for the impotence of the latter requests, the above risk-off strategy could be […]

As the President’s cabinet comes to look more and more modelled upon a revolving door policy, market volatility has increased somewhat. Rex Tillerson became a household name as a symbolic and quintessential original appointment within the Trump administration’s cabinet. The former CEO of ExxonMobil of ten years forfeited much of his participation in the private […]

Discussion and Analysis by Grace Gliksten:   The interest rate is a monetary policy tool used by central banks to manipulate the macroeconomy. Representing both the reward for saving and the cost of borrowing, interest rates can manipulate the attractiveness of prospective domestic currency exposures.   Unsurprisingly, the Bank of England decided not to raise […]

Discussion and Analysis by Charles Porter: Yesterday evening, at 19:00BST, the minutes from November’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting were released. A December rate hike in the US is already heavily priced in by the market and widely taken for granted. Yesterday’s release affirmed this sentiment, confirming the members’ commitment to raising the target […]

Discussion and Analysis by Charles Porter: Political and geopolitical risk has been amplified immensely this weekend. The threat to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is significant, particularly given the nation’s exposure to crude oil. The threat escalated when a ballistic missile was reportedly fired from Saudi Arabia’s southern neighbour, Yemen, towards the kingdom’s capital. The […]

Discussion and Analysis by Charles Porter:   Yesterday evening, at 18:00 BST, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the Federal Reserve System published its latest monetary policy decision. The minutes released alongside the decision detail that there will be no November rate hike within the US, however, the economic outlook remains positive. Whilst the […]

Discussion and Analysis by Charles Porter:   This afternoon, at 13:30BST, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, a subset of the U.S Department of Commerce, released economic growth data. Estimating the Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the third quarter of 2017, the data release attested to an annualised rate of growth of 3.0%. Beating consensus […]

Safe Haven Currencies are an imperative, yet complicated, business. Rising in value and price in the face of Geopolitical and general uncertainty and risk, their trend often defies not only other asset trends but also logic. In this article, we analyse known havens and the possible causes for their existence.    US Dollar   The […]

Discussion and Analysis By Charles Porter: Last week’s inflation data within the United States was strong, yet underwhelming. It has led to significant speculation on the US Dollar given the significance of the rate of inflation to currency markets. When the data was released, the US Dollar spooked significantly, losing 0.4% of its value against […]

Discussion and Analysis by Charles Porter:   The Federal Reserve Board’s Chair, Janet Yellen, has serviced in her present office since 2014. Her four-year term ends in February 2018 and her reappointment looks uncertain at best. Regardless of whom the White House appoints as the next Fed Chair and Chairman of the Federal Open Market […]