Tag Archives: USD

The US markets are closed on Monday, and many parts of Asia will continue to celebrate the Lunar New Year. The economic schedule is fairly light, and market psychology appears fragile after the dramatic activity in equities and what appears to be shifting macro-relationships. To help navigate the challenging investment climate, we identify four “numbers” that can illuminate the path ahead. The equity market is center...

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.13% to 1.1513 CHF. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, February 16(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Nearly all the major currencies have risen at least two percent against the US dollar this week. The Canadian dollar is an exception. It has risen one percent this week ahead of today’s local session. Sterling is becoming another...

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.24% to 1.1535 CHF. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, February 15(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates The significant development this week has been the recovery of equities after last week’s neck-breaking drop, while yields have continued to rise. The dollar has taken is cues from the risk-on impulse from the equity market and the...

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.08% to 1.1533 CHF. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, February 14(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates There is an unease that continues to hang over the market. It is as if a shoe fell last week, and most investors seem to be waiting for the other shoe to drop. It is hard to imagine the kind of body blow that the equities took last week...

Summary: The relationship between stocks and bonds does not appear to have changed much. It is difficult to eyeball correlations. Question the meaning of a chart that has two time series and two scales and. This Great Graphic comes from Bloomberg. It is a more complicated look at the relationship between the US stocks and bonds. In particular, we are looking at the S&P 500 and the 10-year US generic...

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.09% to 1.1531 CHF. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, February 13(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates There are two important developments today. First, the recovery in the global equity markets is being challenged. Second, the yen has strengthened across the board, and is now at its best levels against the dollar since last September’s...

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.11% to 1.1505 CHF. EUR/CHf and USD/CHF, February 12(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates The most important development today has been the stability in the equity markets after last week’s meltdown. The recovery from new lows in the US before the weekend set the tone for today’s moves. Tokyo markets were on holiday, and the...

Too much of a good thing is bad. That, in a nutshell, is an important insight that Hyman Minsky offered about the financial sector, but has broader application. The low volatility that has been a characteristic of the capital markets for the past few years spurred financial innovation to profit from it. A broad range of financial instruments constructed to profit from continued low volatility, such as exchange-traded...

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.38% to 1.1502 CHF. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, February 09(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates The 100-point slide in the S&P 500 and the 1000-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrials yesterday spurred more bloodletting in Asia. The 1.8% drop in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index (for a 6.7% loss for the week) may conceal the magnitude...

Summary: FX implied vol bottomed before the VIX took off. FX vol is at the highs for the year, but euro and yen vol is lower than last September. Sterling vol has risen the most. With the substantial swings in the volatility of equities that have captured the imagination of journalists and punished investors who bought financial derivatives that profited from the low vol environment, we thought it would be...