Foreign Exchange

US Dollar Index Outlook

USD Index slightly Higher in quiet trading 10-Yr: +02/32..1.876%.. USD-JPY: 79.92.. EUR- USD: 1.3053 The USD index has seen a quiet US session as action continues to hold small gains near 79.60. EUR-USD is -30 pips at 1.3055 as trade holds at critical support. Early weakness saw the single currency drop to 1.2955, but buyers [...]

US Dollar Outlook

Let us look at Europe first as Spain’s long-term credit rating was downgrading by Standard and Poor’s (S&P) to BBB+ from A. This comes as the ratings agency is concerned over Spain’s increasing budget woes. S&P feels its debt problems will worsen due to the weakened economy. The S&P also assigned a negative outlook. This [...]

Asia Trading Update, Currencies, Gold, Oil, Equities

Live Asia Update from LTN and HCM Leaders in Financial News and Services in Asia Energy producers lost 1.3 percent, the biggest drop among 10 industries in the index. South Korea’s Kospi index retreated 0.3 percent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index (AS51) slid 0.7 percent. Japanese markets are closed for a holiday. The Hang Seng [...]

Asia Currency Outlook: RMB, Baht, Peso, Won

China’s yuan gained the most in two weeks before a Sino-U.S. strategic economic dialogue in Beijing tomorrow that may include discussions on whether the Chinese currency is undervalued. It appreciated 0.05 percent to 6.3070 per dollar in Shanghai. The baht fell 0.3 percent to 30.84 against the U.S. currency in Bangkok, versus 30.75 on April [...]

South Korea Economic Update

South Korea’s trade balance posted a surplus of US$2.15-B last month as reducing exports were offset by falling imports, a government report showed Tuesday. Trade surplus reached US$2.15-B in April, down from a surplus of US$2.45-B tallied in the previous month, according to the report by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. For the 1st 4 [...]

Asia Trading News: FX, Gold, Equities, Oil

Economist Shayne Heffernan gives live updates on the Asia Markets. In China, a survey released by HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics indicated that output at small and medium-sized enterprises contracted. That contrasts a report yesterday that showed Chinese manufacturing expanded last month at the fastest pace in a year. In Australia the resources sector [...]

Wall St Outlook, FX, Gold, Oil, AAPL, Equities

Apple In NASDAQ:AAPL is trading flat before market open in NYC. U.S. stock futures were little changed, following the biggest monthly decline for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since September, before a report that may show manufacturing expanded at a slower pace in April. Avon Products Inc. (NYSE:AVP), the door-to-door cosmetics seller that’s the [...]

RMB Trading in Indonesia

ASEAN: Indonesia to issue bonds in RMB Yuan and Won in Y 2013 Following the success of its Yen denominated “Samurai Bonds”, the Indonesian government plans to issue bonds denominated in the currencies of China and South Korea next year, the Jakarta Post quoted a minister as saying Monday. “I believe Y 2013 is reasonable [...]

USD: Low Rates for Years

Wednesday the US Federal Reserve repeated its promise to leave interest rates on hold until at least late Y 2014, offering few clues into whether it might implement additional stimulus down the line. The Fed described the economy as expanding moderately, as it did in March, and said the unemployment rate had declined but remains [...]

GBP: UK in Recession

UK in recession with GDP down 0.2% in Q-1 Official figures released Wednesday showed Britain’s gross domestic product (GDP) shrunk 0.2% in Q-1 of this year, indicating the Country has slipped back into recession. A recession occurs after two consecutive quarters of negative growth. The GDP in Q-4 of Y 2011 contracted by 0.3%, said [...]

Investor Services

Private Equity Takes a Hit in Q1 2012

Most private-equity and hedge funds typically take 20 percent of investment gains as carried interest, on top of 2 percent of assets as a management fee to …