SGM-FX insights

US Airlines   Chicago USA based United saw a sharp decline in both bookings and also by 5.5% in its share price yesterday. Having revived until a couple of weeks ago, following the imposition of a 14 day quarantine rule in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey, United led the way with all US airlines […]

Interventions   State intervention in the foreign exchange market is a taboo subject. On the one hand, each nation holds and reports reserves of foreign currencies that are seen as critical to financial and economic stability. On the other hand, if a nation uses those reserves too aggressively then it risks being labelled a currency […]

Less Fireworks; more Firefighting   Last night the Fed voted to keep US interest rates between 0%-0.25%. I’m not sure about you but having only recently witnessed emergency meetings slashing the benchmark rate and pledging to buy corporate securities the meetings seem somewhat mundane! Even if not quite as unexpected, the Fed’s decision last night […]

Today Spring Bank Holiday in the UK   And also in the USA (Memorial Day) as well as the Middle East and other Muslim centres celebrating Eid Al Fitr and the end of Ramadan. SGM-FX is working a full day today ready to support our clients and what is shaping up to be a busy […]

Sri Lanka   It was this day in 1972 that Ceylon became the Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka’s documented history spans 3,000 years, with prehistoric human settlements dating back at least 125,000 years. Nearer to today and rather more pertinently, the Sri Lanka Rupee is trading at 186 to USD less than 5% weaker […]

America Inc   With the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia topping up its holdings in US stocks, the market will take note and be of cheer especially as those stocks include Boeing, Citigroup, Bank of America and Facebook. PIF now holds $10 Billion in US stocks versus $2 Billion at the beginning of […]

USA Real Estate   Reassuring to see that there is still some very very expensive real estate available in these times in the USA. So if any of you fancy a 20 bed mansion with 23 bathrooms in Beverley Hills and are looking for a home for USD 165M, look no further. Likewise and relatively(?) […]

Auto Sector: how the future looks(today)by numbers   Ferrari announced better than expected revenues at $1.02 billion, makes less than 10,000 cars a year priced between $215K and $1 M and here’s the key point, enjoys a profit margin of 24%. Ferrari has a market cap of $ 30 Billion ahead of General Motors at […]

May 1 and the Markets   Here we are on Day 122 with 244 Days to go in 2020 so exactly one third of the way through the year. On February 17 a mere 74 days ago WTI Oil traded at $53. And now it is $17. Gold at present just over $1700. The Dow […]

Bears   Last night’s price action was tumultuous. Asian and US trading sessions are normally characterised by widespread, sluggish price moves and limited volume. It’s unsurprising given that some 80% of foreign exchange sales and trading takes place in Europe and the lion’s share of that in London. However, when serious geopolitical or economic events […]

Decoupling   Over the weekend (apparently), we learnt who the king and queen of Winter love island ‘19/‘20 would be. I can only tell you their names by googling it. So I won’t pretend to be a fountain of knowledge on the subject and allow you to make your own searches. One thing I can […]

Cushty   There have been times since he took over the FED presidency from Janet Yellen that Jay Powell’s job looked unenviable. October last year, for example, when the chairman had to calm a liquidity drought using severe repo operations, must’ve been a particularly stressful time for Mr Powell. The minutes released from the FOMC’s […]