US housing data puts Obama’s hopes on hold

The fledgling recovery in the US housing market appears to have stalled, reducing the chance of President Barack Obama’s “glimmers of hope” turning into green shoots any time soon.

Stock markets were little changed as US consumer prices posted their first annual decline since 1955. Trader John Cetera of Hamilton Executions on the floor

Hopes of a [...]

Equities surge higher

Markets are on a positive feel following yesterdays outline by Tim Geithner on the Public Private Investment Program in the US.

The plan involves the US government buying up toxic assets held by banks which will allow the banks to free up their balance sheets. At the moment the debt sits with the banks and [...]

AIG bonuses backlash risks inflicting permanent damage on Wall Street

Outraged US legislators are pushing through punitive taxes on bonuses not just at AIG but at all recipients of government funds.

The hot-headed and unfairly retroactive changes could hurt investor confidence, undermine President Barack Obama’s credibility and damage the still valuable US finance sector.

AIG has been especially irresponsible, both with its risk-taking during the credit [...]

US stocks bounce from the lows

Following dreadful US consumer confidence data earlier in the day the Dow posted a 2% rise, this after Bernanke testified to the Senate on the health of the US economy.

He again highlighted that the US economy still faces further contraction, however he intimated that the US government would not move to nationalize US [...]

US Dollar under pressure

Last week although the currency markets were choppy, we did not see a significant break out of the current ranges for the main protagonists- GBP/USD, EUR/USD and GBP/EUR.

What we did see was more negativity in the equity markets as the Dow fell to the 2002 lows below 7300 amid fears that the US [...]

Where now for the UK?

Following another rollercoaster week in the currency markets we have seen the Pound rally and then submit its gains.

Today and tomorrow we have the G7 meeting in Rome and the recent weakness in the pound is expected to be a confrontational topic.

Following Wednesday’s Bank Of England inflation report the expectation is that UK interest [...]

US economic stimulus reveal

Geithner unveilled absolutely nothing new with regards to the Obama Administration’s financial rescue package.

It has a fancy title within it, the Financial Stability Plan and the Public-Private Investment Fund (ie Bad Bank) but little else besides.

The ideas are similar to those proffered by the widely lampooned ex Treasury Secretary Paulson and the methods to be [...]

The Federal Reserve posts no surprises on interest rates

With a target Fed Funds Rate ( the rate at which The US major Banks are able to borrow overnight Dollars) already at a 0 – 0.25% level, further cuts are nigh on impossible.

Attention therefore was firmly fixed on any mention of more innovative easing initiatives and also the mood of the accompanying statement. [...]

Yields, or rather the lack of them

Yields are again the major contributor to the loans calculators debate this morning.

Everything that emerged yesterday pointed to a continuation in rate reduction with the lowly levels being maintained through the time horizon. Added to this, Quatitative Easing has raised its profile once again.

Yesterday we saw further weak economic data from the Eurozone prompting [...]

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