The Lira rose as Recep Tayyip Erdogan won the first direct presidential election. This will allow the former prime minister to extend his stay in power to 2019. With the Turkish Lira adding 0.3% and reaching 2.1383 per Dollar the currency overall is 0.5% stronger this year. Now the attention for Turkey's economy shifts to its foreign debt and inflation.
The Sterling managed to recover from its lowest level in two months against the Greenback. After being pressured by the possibility of increased rates, the Pound climbed and was able to recover by 0.10% to trade at 1.6789 against the US Dollar ahead of BoE's inflation report due to be released on Wednesday, along with several other indicators and a
With a new ceasefire in Gaza, along with the halting of Russia's military drills near the border, demand for safe-haven assets decreased. As a consequence, gold for December dropped by 0.15% to trade at 1,309.00 an ounce during the early European session. Prices ranged from 1,306.50 and 1,312.80 as traders are still attentive to geopolitical tensions.
After achieving its highest level in one week during the previous session, the Euro decreased below $1.34 this Monday. With geopolitical concerns slowly wearing off, such as Russia ending its drills near the border and the beginning of a new ceasefire in Gaza, the Euro fell by 0.14% to trade at $1.3395 from $1.3432.
As investors keep focused on geopolitical tension, both in the Middle East and Ukraine, crude oil futures fluctuated in between losses and gains this Monday. In London, the Brent's delivery for October dropped by 0.09% to 105.53 dollars a barrel. Meanwhile, on the NYSE, crude for September raised by 0.09%, trading at 97.74 dollars a barrel.
During the second quarter, Europe's leading economy and growth engine shrank by 0.1%, underperforming Spain for the first time in over five years. The Euro zone is having trouble in increasing growth and inflation. Germany contracted for the first time since 2012. However, Bundesbank expects the German economy to grow 1.9% this year.
The Yen declined against the Dollar on Monday as demand for the safe haven asset fell due to lessened geopolitical risk. With Russia ending its military drills close to the border of Ukraine and a new ceasefire starting in Gaza the USD/JPY pair gained 0.1% and was trading at 102.17. Meanwhile, the EUR/USD pair declined 0.1% to 1.3344.
Asian stocks gained after experiencing the largest fall since May. With shares losing due to geopolitical risks last week today the Asian indexes increased substantially. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 1.2% and reached 145.84 as it rebounded from the 1.4% drop last Friday. Regional indexes such as Topix and HSI jumped 1.8% and 1.2%, respectively.
The Greenback jumped to trade close to its highest value in three months versus the Loonie due to concerns regarding geopolitical tension in Ukraine and Iraq, and also due to disappointing Canadian employment. The pair hit 1.0963 in the European session and proceeded to consolidate at 1.0959, representing a 0.36% gain.
The Sterling dropped to almost two-month low versus the Greenback today, following the issue of the unsatisfactory trade balance figures, whereas the geopolitical risks kept on fueling the safe-heaven demand. The Cable consolidated at 1.6813 today, sliding 0.11%. The data indicated the U.K. trade deficit increased to £9.41 billion in June, while the economists projected the deficit to narrow down to £8.80 billion.
US Treasuries gained and sent yields to a one-year low due to approved US airstrikes in Iraq. As a result investors are looking for safe haven assets and debt is being bought all across the world. The US 10-yield fell 0.03 percentage points to 2.38 percent in London as the current conflicts could increase the risk to growth prospects.
China's Yuan is facing the biggest weekly rise since June, after the overseas sales overshoot the expectations and promoted the record trade surplus. The exports grew 14.5% from the previous year in July. Imports by-turn dropped 1.6% to create the trade surplus of $47.3 billion. The Yuan appreciated 0.38% this week to trade at 6.1565 per dollar, whereas today the currency added 0.09%.
This Friday the data regarding the UK's trade balance was released and revealed to be worse than forecast. National Statistics in the UK reported that UK's trade balance dropped to -9.41 from the previous month's -9.15 (this was revised from -9.20). Analysts had forecast it to improve to -8.80 in July.
As the trade balance in the UK is expected to remain in the red, the Sterling dropped to its lowest price in two months against the Greenback. The Cable fell by 0.14% to 1.6807, correcting its value from a hype that was originated from the possibility of increased rates in the UK. Analysts predict the trade balance to be -8.9B.
The Euro managed to recover from yesterday's plummet, caused by Draghi's speech, which threw the common currency near to its lowest value in nine months. The Euro climbed by 0.27% to 1.3394 against the US Dollar. President Barack Obama approved air strikes in Iraq increasing demand for safe-haven assets.
Both Brent and West Texas Intermediate rose as the US President Barack Obama has authorised Iraq air strikes. The futures for September had a considerable rise with the Brent increasing 1.3% and the WTI 1.1%. Consequently, the Brent was trading at $106.85 a barrel in London and the Texas light sweet was at $98.45 on the NYMEX.
Tension in the Middle East and Ukraine keep on concerning traders, therefore causing gold to rise to its highest price in three weeks. Gold rose by 0.7% to 1,322.14, reversing a 0.3% loss, after Barack Obama approved air strikes in Iraq. Regarding futures, gold for December increased to 1,323.50 on the Comex.
The Greenback slid to two-and-a-half week lows versus the Yen today, after investors secured profits, following the U.S. Dollar latest rally due to an array of favourable U.S. data, whereas the BoJ left the monetary policy unaltered. USD/JPY traded at 101.73, having dropped 0.35%. The strength of the U.S. Dollar once again fueled the speculation over the timing of the Fed's rate cut.
The Reserve Bank of Australia reduced the growth and inflation projections amid steeper decrease in the mining investment and said the interest rates will be preserved at the same level. The Central Bank now anticipates the GDP growth to range from 2% to 3% through June 2015. The RBA lowered its inflation projection to 1.75% to 2.75%. Australia's unemployment rate climbed in July to surpass the
The Bank of Japan kept its promise to increase the base money with asset purchases of about 60-70 trillion yen per year. Further, the central bank added that it plans to continue an even more aggressive QE next year. In addition the BoJ warned about weak exports as the Japanese economy seems to be experiencing a slowdown mostly due to
U.S. jobless claims data overshoot the expectations thus upholding the U.S. Dollar over all of its major counterparts. However the growth is limited due to the global geopolitical risks, which cap the Greenback's advance. EUR/USD depreciated 0.13% yesterday evening, trading at 1.3364 against the Euro. The U.S. Department of Labor stated yesterday the number of jobless claims decreased by 14,000 last week.
The Chinese trade surplus was larger than forecast at $47.3 billion as there now is more reason to believe that the growth target of 7.5% will be reached. This surplus number was the largest for a month since November 2008 and the data also showed a substantial increase in exports to EU at 17% and US at 12.3%. If the central bank does not intervene
During the previous week less people filed applications for jobless benefits, causing July's average to fall to the lowest value in eight years. This means that the labour market keeps gaining momentum. Unemployment claims data revealed that 289,000 people filed for benefits, representing a decrease of 14,000 from the previous period.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin issued a ban on food imports on Wednesday from the countries that have recently imposed sanctions against Russia. With the EU being the country's largest importer of meat, dairy, fruit and vegetable products these probably will be banned even though the list remains in the works. Meanwhile, the Russian forces near the Ukraine border seem to