The details of the FOMC minutes released yesterday provided very few surprises; but for the first time there was the acknowledgement that low US rates could spur excessive risk-taking. Although this could have been seen as an argument for paring back USD shorts, the committee mitigated their remarks by adding that they saw the likelihood of such risk-taking as low. Instead, the really important… (more…)
A new day, a fresh round of USD-selling, and another record high for gold. The unrelenting momentum of gold?s rally has surprised many people, re-igniting chatter about the possibility of a bubble or blow-out reversal. But while the 26% rise in the past 3 months is still impressive, compared to previous commodity market bubbles, the pace and scale of the move is far from extraordinary. If we… (more…)
Concerns over Dubai World quasi-sovereign debt restructuring situation was still haunting risk correlated trades in the Asian session. And combined with thin liquidity has made for a volatile Friday. Asian equities markets were lower across the board, with the Hang Seng falling -4.8%. US 10yrs Trsys have gapped down to 3.20%, while Gold is down nearly $50 from Thursday’s high. USD has seen… (more…)
Despite the USD?s resurgence on Friday, a strong performance from Asian equity indices at the start of this week has quickly put the USD back under pressure, and one can?t help but feel that sideways range-trading could be stubbornly entrenched. Gold is providing the only decent spectacle in the market, as it rallies unfalteringly to $1167.82 highs so far, and seems determined to push straight on… (more…)