The Australian Dollar collapsed on Friday after blistering US non-farm payrolls (NFP) data lifted the US Dollar. The statistics revealed a US labour force that is running hot, and the market was forced to recalibrate expectations for the peak in the Federal Reserve’s rate hike cycle. 517k jobs were added in January according to the...Read More

As we look ahead to a new trading week, what is the background mood of the market? An argument can be made by the bulls who point to the general progress made by benchmarks like the Nasdaq 100 over the entirety of this past week – a general push to four-month highs – with justification...Read More

Crude oil has had a torrid week so far with wider market movements overshadowing the optimism of China re-joining the global economy. The Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BoE) all tightened monetary policy in the last few days. While stocks have broadly rallied, black gold has struggled to...Read More

The US Dollar is under the pump today even though the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) hiked the target rate by 25 basis points (bp) as widely anticipated. While the move is unequivocally a tightening of policy, it was in the post-meeting press conference that the message appeared to get somewhat jumbled when Fed Chair...Read More

Gold had a look lower at the US$ 1,900 handle in the US session but quickly recovered back above US$ 1,925. At the same time, the DXY Index, a benchmark measure of the US Dollar, moved to higher ground before collapsing into the New York close. Wall Street had a stellar session on hopes that...Read More

USD/JPY SHORT-TERM TECHNICAL FORECAST – NEUTRAL The Japanese yen’s rally against the US dollar appears to have stalled in recent days as the market looks for further cues from the upcoming US Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting. While the market widely expects the Fed to hike rates by 25 basis points to 4.5%-4.75% on...Read More

Crude oil has steadied to start the week as China returns from the Lunar New Year holidays and ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on Wednesday. Both the WTI and Brent futures contracts took a beating on Friday as fears of a recession in the US seem to have undermined confidence that...Read More

The British pound prepares itself for a stacked week ahead that include both Bank of England (BoE) and Federal Reserve interest rate decisions respectively (see economic calendar below). The BoE has hinted at yet another 50bps hike which is confirmed by money market pricing as seen in the table below. While this is largely priced...Read More

Asia-Pacific Market Briefing – AUD/USD May Rise After Rosy US Session The sentiment-linked Australian Dollar pulled cautiously higher on Thursday after US GDP data bolstered risk appetite on Wall Street. At the end of the session, the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 gained 0.61%, 1.1% and 1.76%, respectively. This risk-on dynamic dented demand...Read More

NZD/USD SHORT-TERM TECHNICAL FORECAST – NEUTRAL Wednesday’s drop in the New Zealand dollar against the US dollar could be short-lived. NZD/USD fell after New Zealand’s fourth-quarter inflation rose less than what the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) had forecast. CPI rose 7.2% on-year in the fourth quarter, slightly above analysts’ expectations of 7.1%, but...Read More