Both Parties Still at Odds Over US Debt

Posted 25/07/11
Today, Speaker of the House John Boehner announced to legislators that, despite the danger of a veto and the fact that negotiations in Congress are at a dead-end while the August 2 deadline looms near, he favors adding a short-term increase to the country’s debt limit over President Barack Obama’s proposed solution to the US’s debt problem. During a teleconference on Sunday afternoon, Boehner told rank-and-file Republicans that they should join together as a team to block Obama’s proposed $2.4 trillion increase to the current $14.300 trillion debt ceiling limit, which also stipulates all the funds are received simultaneously without having to give any guarantees on cutting government spending. Boehner’s comments were relayed to the press by someone closely involved with the course of the discussions. The Speaker of the House also said that no one wants to see the US default on its debt, therefore he is proposing a plan of only a short-term, $1 trillion increase in the debt ceiling...
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Forex News – Strong U.S. Housing Data and Earnings Boost Confidence in...

Posted 19/07/11
Optimism spread through financial markets in Europe and the United States after strong earnings from U.S. companies and better than expected U.S. housing data, which boosted confidence among investors, as they targeted higher yielding assets against lower yielding ones, which pushed the U.S. dollar to drop against majors. Several U.S. banks and companies reported their earnings for the second quarter of 2011, where IBM, Coca-Cola Co, Wells Fargo, Johnson & Johnson, Bank of New York Mellon, and Bank of America posted results that topped estimates, which provided stock indexes with strong momentum to rise, although Goldman Sachs, the giant U.S. bank reported disappointing results, however, traders were still focused on the bigger picture, since most U.S. firms reported strong earnings so far. Meanwhile, U.S. housing starts and building permits rose in June above expectations, which boosted confidence among investors, and increased demand for higher yielding assets, where housing starts rose by 14.6% to reach 629,000, well above expectations of 575,000, and building...
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19/7/2011 – The Current Market Sentiment

Posted 19/07/11
The markets are waiting for having more information about the US housing market today with the release of US housing starts of June which are expected to be 0.58M in June from 0.56 in May and also US building permits which are expected to be 0.61M in June from .612 in May while the equities markets seem to be rebounding this morning after strong selling in the recent days because of the markets growing worries about the US debt following warning of downgrading the US credit rating by S&P and Moody's last week without exceeding the $14.29 trillions ceiling of US debt which has been already reached on 16th of last May as what has been announced by the Timothy Geithner. These warning could contain the market sentiment with no reached deal yet between Obama and the majority of US Congress republic party senators who are asking for cutting the governmental spending by at least 2 trillions before accepting this request...
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Forex News – Optimism Driven By Improved Earnings Reports

Posted 18/07/11
      Investors targeted higher yielding assets during the European session on Tuesday after some companies reported earnings that beat estimates. Those good earnings shifted the attention from Europe's and US's debt worries. Now markets will be eyeing the earnings from the big U.S. financial institutions. The dollar weakened today against its major counterparts as the worries about the U.S. debt situation persist. Officials must come to an agreement about the debt ceiling till August 2, deadline. The European leaders will meet in a summit later this week to further discuss Greece's new rescue plan. Pessimism will continue to dominate markets and caution may increase demand on safe heaven any moment as long as debt problems in the United States and Europe continue to weigh down on overall confidence. This keeps high demand on gold which today rose to a record high at $1609.97 level. Today the German ZEW economic sentiment survey showed current conditions being better than expected. This managed to give an extra...
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Forex News – Debt Problems in United States and Europe Spread Pessimism...

Posted 18/07/11
Pessimism dominated global financial markets on Monday, where traders were concerned over debt problems in the United States and Europe, where traders are speculating EU leaders will fail to reach a resolution to the EU debt crisis in a summit this week, while U.S. lawmakers continue to negotiate raising the debt ceiling in the United States before an August 2, deadline. Meanwhile, European markets were under immense pressure after analysts signaled that the European stress tests results that were released last week don’t address the exposure of European banks to the Euro Zone’s debt crisis, which spread further pessimism in markets. The rising wave of pessimism in markets led investors to target low yielding and safe assets against higher yielding ones, where investors targeted lower yielding currencies and gold, noting that gold prices rose to a record high earlier on Monday above $1600 an ounce. Stocks in the United States fell by opening on Monday, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down...
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Forex News – Sentiment Built Around Europe’s Debt Woes

Posted 17/07/11
  The debt crisis remains in focus for another week. And since today there will be no major global economic data, sentiment will be built around the European stress test results, which failed on Friday to reassure investors and convince the markets about the health of the banking system.    The stress test results highlighted that the region's debt woes are only intensifying, since only 8 out of 90 banks showed the capability to survive another recession, while 16 barely passed. Thus investors dumped the euro and other high yielding assets, heading towards safe heaven including gold, USD, CHF, and JPY. The uncertainties surrounding EU's debt crisis, in addition to the concerns over the outlook for the global growth continue to weigh on markets. Pessimism is dominating the financial markets, as European leaders might fail to reach an agreement to resolve the debt crisis during the summit scheduled later this week. While the U.S. economic data continued to disappoint, another issue is worrying investors....
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Forex News – Earnings Fuel Optimism in Markets, but Equity Indexes Trim...

Posted 15/07/11
Earnings seem to be the driving force for optimism among investors, where better than expected earnings from Google Inc and Citigroup Inc fueled cheers in markets, as equity markets in the United States rose by opening on Friday, despite the worse than expected economic fundamentals that were released from the United States. Both Google Inc and Citigroup Inc followed the lead of JPMorgan Chase & Co in announcing better than expected revenues and net income in the second fiscal quarter of 2011, which boosted confidence in stock markets and pushed indexes higher, although indexes trimmed gains after the worse than expected University of Michigan confidence index. On the other hand, data from the United States signaled more weakness, where the consumer price index released on Friday confirmed Thursday’s PPI, which showed that inflation eased in June as energy prices dropped, while the empire manufacturing index showed an ongoing contraction in July. Moreover, the industrial production index rose below expectations, while the University of...
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Forex News – Tight Ranges Ahead of the U.S. Data and the European Banks...

Posted 14/07/11
  The rising risk aversion within the broad markets raised demand on lower yielding currencies against higher yielding ones. This brought gains to the USD and losses to other major currencies. And if confidence remains fragile, we should expect the dollar to extend its gains. However talks about the U.S. debt ceiling continue to dominate the landscape, especially after Standard & Poor’s rating agency said there is a one-in-two chance it will cut the U.S. debt rating within three months if the government doesn’t raise the debt ceiling. If the U.S. government doesn’t reach an agreement before August 2nd deadline, we expect the greenback to lose huge momentum against the other major currencies despite the ongoing sovereign debt saga in Europe, the global financial instability and the confusions about the global economic outlook. Europewill release today its much awaited its stress test results. The report will give a picture about the health of the European banking system and will be released after the European...
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15/7/2011 – The Current Market Sentiment

Posted 14/07/11
The US equities Markets came back under pressure after Bernanke's try to redirect the markets which cheered by the existing possibility of supporting the US economy by another quantitive easing plan as he said that can be on circumstances we do not face currently and he has added clearly that the fed is not ready to take such a step currently in his second day of hit semiannual testimony in front of the financial services committee on the house after saying the first day that everything should be on the table. The greenback could be supported after these comments which hurt the risk apatite which has been pressure by another new warning of downgrading the US credit rating maintaining its negative outlook which has changed from stable in last April and this new warning came following Moody's warning of downgrading the US credit rating to contain the markets sentiment highlighting the risk of not raising the $14.29 trillion ceiling of US...
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Forex News – JPMorgan Chase Earnings, and Jobless Claims Spread Optimism...

Posted 14/07/11
Stock markets in the United States rose at opening on Thursday, as investors were encouraged after JPMorgan Chase & Co reported earnings that topped estimates, while jobless claims fell below expectations, which supported confidence among traders. Moreover, data on inflation showed easing pressures as the PPI fell in June due to falling energy prices, while retail sales for June slightly rose above expectations. Investors shrugged off Moody’s announcement that it put the credit rating outlook for U.S. debt under negative review, as politicians continue to debate over a deal to raise the debt ceiling and lower the deficit, as better than expected earnings from JPMorgan Chase for the second quarter of 2011 boosted banking shares, since investors were prepared for lower revenues and earnings from the banking giant. Moreover, the weekly jobless claims dropped unexpectedly to 405,000 from 427,000 in the previous week, providing optimism over the outlook of the U.S. labor market, meanwhile, PPI fell by 0.4% in June as energy...
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