Asia saw good performances from both the Nikkei and Shanghai but it did not extend to the Hang Seng. The BOJ helped sentiment (with some friendly minutes) which finally saw a closing for the Nikkei through the 19k level (+1%). European equities did initially have strength as Retail Sales at 2.9% was better than last […]

QUESTION: Marty, I heard that banks are actually shutting down proprietary trading. Is that true? Does that mean the manipulations are coming to an end? Cheers FP ANSWER: Yes. Many banks are getting out of the business entirely, especially the Europeans. They are not even making markets in currency. The fines over short-term manipulations have […]

Asia, and China in particular, put in a stellar performance today, eventually closing up over 4%. Rumors pushing the market that the PBoC is pursuing a tighter relationship between Shanghai and Hong Kong, and also that President Xi Jinping said the country’s economic growth rate will not be less than 6.5% in the next five years […]

Asia saw a mixed session with small plays in both directions from the core markets; the Hang Seng did however close strong (up 0.85%). Once the European session got underway most indices were trading heavy as the euro continues to lose friends. That all changed, however, once the U.S. markets opened for trading. After the […]

A mixed session out of Asia with not one market providing a clear sense of direction! The Nikkei and Shanghai spent the day flip-flopping between red and black whilst the Hang Seng saw selling throughout the day. All core European Indices returned negative performances today with declines between -0.2% and 0.6%. The U.S. opened weaker after yesterday […]

Barcelona plans to release its own currency in the coming spring. The money will initially exist only in digital form and will support the regional economy, according to the incumbent mayor. The value of the currency will be pegged to the euro and will begin to reflect the desired independence aspirations of Catalonia, which our […]

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; If I understand you correctly, should the IMF accept the yuan as a reserve currency, this will have zero impact other than political. Correct? RH ANSWER: Correct. The IMF will decide in November whether to expand the current composition (U.S. dollar, euro, yen, and British pound) of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) with another currency. […]

Asian equity market continued the rally overnight that the ECB had teed-up for them with all main indices returning around +1.75% on the day. Although Europe had the afternoon session yesterday to react to the ECB Q+A, the early momentum remained constructive regardless. Then the news that the Chinese (PBoC) had cut its one-year benchmark lending rate by 25bp to […]

The Nikkei gave back some of yesterday’s rally as afternoon trading stocks turned negative to close down 118 points (0.65%). Shanghai rallied into the close, eventually gaining 1.5%, which made back some of yesterday’s losses. Europe spent most of the morning in no-mans land waiting for direction from the ECB. They did not have long to […]

After a strong open the Nikkei spent the rest of the day clambering to remain in positive territory. Eventually closing +0.45% higher, the Nikkei inspired the Chinese (Shanghai) into a 38 point end of day rally to finish up at +1.1%. The HSI never managed to trade above Mondays close; it finished off the lows but still […]