US equity indices jumped on Monday after reassurance from US lawmakers that the country won’t default on its debt obligations, boosting hopes of a deal to raise the debt ceiling. The odds of further gains in the indices are high, technical charts suggest. “The leaders (of Congress) have all agreed: We will not default. Every...Read More

Australian Dollar Deteriorates with Risk Appetite The sentiment-linked Australian Dollar underperformed against its major counterparts on Tuesday. This was during a day that Wall Street turned sour. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank over 1 percent as materials and energy stocks underperformed. Meanwhile, information technology shares fared better. The Nasdaq Composite only fell -0.18%. A...Read More

The Australian Dollar dropped on doubts about the economic recovery for China after statistics revealed slowing activity. Chinese data today saw industrial production come in at 5.6% year-over-year to the end of April against the 10.9% forecast and March’s print of 3.9%. Retail sales for the same period were 18.4%, instead of the 21.9% expected...Read More

The US Dollar reclaimed the ascendency last week with the DXY index notching up its largest weekly gain since September last year. The DXY index is a US Dollar index that is weighted against EUR (57.6%), JPY (13.6%), GBP (11.9%), CAD (9.1%), SEK (4.2%) and CHF (3.6%). EUR/USD and GBP/USD saw the larger falls while...Read More

BOE MEETING AND UK GDP IMPACT The GBP selloff continued following Thursdays BoE meeting and gathered pace on Friday as GBPUSD slipped below the 1.2500 psychological level, trading at 1.2460 at the time of writing. The selloff in GBPUSD had more to do with the dollar than the GBP evidenced by the gains put in...Read More

Crude oil is steady at the start of trade on Friday after retreating overnight with the US Dollar finding firmer footing with the market taking some positives from US data. Jobless claims were above estimates at 264k for last week rather than the 245k anticipated, but PPI came in at 2.3%, instead of the 2.5%...Read More

CRUDE OIL, US CPI, RETAIL TRADER POSITIONING, TECHNICAL ANALYSIS – IGCS COMMODITIES UPDATEWTI crude oil prices gained for a fourth consecutive day, matching the longest winning streak since the beginning of April. Adding an extra 24 hours to this victory streak would mean the longest since early March. Since finding a recent bottom earlier this...Read More

Gold consolidated around the US$ 2,020 handle going into Tuesday’s trading session after dipping last Friday as sways in risk sentiment appear to be driving the pricing of the precious metal. Treasury yields have ticked higher across the curve since the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) raised its target rate by 25 basis points to...Read More

The US Dollar’s vulnerability has continued to start this week after sliding lower to close out last week. This is despite 253k non-farm US jobs being added in April, well above the 160k forecast and the revised 165k prior. The unemployment rate came in at 3.4% last month, the lowest level since 1969. High beta...Read More

The Japanese Yen has been a thorn and a crown for traders over the last week, providing both headaches and bliss in a wild ride of price action. he fundamental backdrop for Japanese monetary policy remains unchanged for now despite Kazuo Ueda taking the reigns last month as the new Governor of the Bank of...Read More