SGM-FX insights

Clarida’s Confessions:   The Dollar continued its rampant appreciation this morning following the testimony of the Federal Reserve’s Vice Chairman, Richard Clarida. In the first major speech of his appointment, the American economist sided with further US monetary policy tightening. The Vice Chair did not appear concerned by equity market evolutions in the previous weeks […]

Elephant in the Room:   The European Central Bank published its latest monetary policy decision today, with the European monetary authority leaving interest rates unchanged. The Bank held the main refinancing rate at 0% with the deposit rate, the reward for holding funds at the bank overnight, at -0.40. The ultra-accommodative monetary policy stance is […]

Auspicious Start…   The Rand has lost close to 1% on a trade weighted basis today alone. The depreciation of the South African currency has occurred despite the intraday appreciation of the broader basket of emerging market currencies. Presenting the mid-term budget statement, South Africa’s new Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni, announced that South Africa’s fiscal […]

48%; 52%; 95%!   European Integration has progressed at a minimum of two different and distinct paces since 1992 and the signing of the Maastricht Treaty. Those travelling at the first place, the most advanced threshold of integration within the union, is populated by member states participating in the shared currency, operating under an enhanced […]

Playground squabbles   The Dollar is on the rise with the Pound and the Euro feeling the pressure of increased political uncertainty. The Dollar’s early bid of the week stems from the White House’s suggestion over the weekend that arms treaties with Russia should be suspended. Amidst an incumbent crisis in Saudi Arabia, the elevated […]

Sorry, come again?   Trouble throughout the Eurozone, the United States and the UK makes for interesting trading within the world’s most popularly traded currency pairs. Marked by a spike in the VIX, a volatility index traded on the Chicago Board of Options Exchange, which currently carries a 19 handle, price movements across the board […]

Sorry, come again?   Finally, things become a little clearer on the progress of the European Council Summit in Brussels. Or do they? One of the most popular reports emanating from the seismic event in the Belgian capital purports that German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, found British Prime Minister Theresa May’s speech so unsure and nervous […]

Summit’s Brewin’:   Following weak CPI inflation data this morning, Sterling faced an almost unrelenting headwind. Losing a value of almost 0.5% in the first 30 minutes of European trading against the Euro, the Pound found little footing from rumours seeping out of Brussels. Weak CPI data came as a surprise to traders and investors […]

Skiing season:   Sterling appears to have taken its winter break early, with a day in the moguls wreaking havoc on Sterling currency pairs throughout the market. EURGBP, the true barometer of Brexit and the pair that has best reflected the true value of the Pound throughout the past few months, displayed considerable volatility throughout […]

I’m ready for the question, Noel:   Dominic Raab’s last minute scramble over to Brussels this weekend left investors in great anticipation, perhaps even expectation, of a Brexit deal this week. Michel Barnier’s tweet yesterday afternoon undermined those expectations sending Sterling tumbling during the Asian open yesterday evening. The EU’s chief negotiator wrote: Sterling crashed […]

Foster’s Terror:     Yesterday’s Sterling market faced a headwind as investors realised they might have over stepped, in fact overpriced, the potential benefits of a post-Brexit trading arrangement at the European level. The value that markets have priced out during the course of yesterday and today reflect investors’ and traders’ concerns that getting a […]

Doomsday:     An unnecessarily intelligent man named Francis Fukuyama, in 1989, wrote an essay entitled “The End of History?”. In this essay, written in the twilight of the cold war, the American Political Scientist posited the hypothesis that perhaps, with democracy sweeping across the globe, history would be over. Striking a strong resemblance to […]