26.06.13

The Japanese earnings figures were less than had been expected, this coupled with a stronger JPY leading to a near 3% drop in the NIKKEI. The JPY was up 2% against the USD this week. Today USD/JPY is trading at 98.89 with a high of 99.40 and a low of 98.62 so far. Japanese economic activity has been undergoing monetary expansion since April when Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda announced a 2% inflation target. AUD/NZD was trading at lows yesterday not seen since t 2008, the pair was trading at 1.1452 with a high of 1.1459 and a low of 1.1429, after hitting a low yesterday of 1.1387.

The NIKKEI closed at 14130.00 down 432.95 points or minus 2.97%

Greek passed a new tax code law yesterday, unlocking nearly 6 billion euros from the Euro Zone bailout fund. Spain also got a modicum of good news in the slight drop in unemployment figures. The number dropped from 27.2% to 26.3%. Spanish banks reported bad debts yesterday, and have seen a rise in underperforming loans. Germany saw business sentiment increase; the Ifo said its business climate index rose to 106.2 in July from 105.9 in June. EUR/USD was trading at 1.3277 with a high of 1.3288 and a low of 1.3268 so far.

The FTSE100 closed at 6627.66 up 39.71 points or 0.60% while the DAX closed at 8354.72 up 55.74 or 0.67%

Some speculation from economists that the FOMC meeting next week could see bond buying tapered, from 85 to 65 billion per month. A Bloomberg survey reported that a group of 54 economists expect $35 billion to be spent on treasuries and $30 billion to be spent on mortgage backed securities. The meeting next week will be watched with interest as for the past while the FED actions, or even speculation on what action they intend to take, has caused some interesting trading conditions. CABLE was trading at 1.5382 with a high of 1.5405 and a low of 1.5373 so far today.

Hope you all have a nice weekend.