Gold bugs will be a happy bunch at the moment with the precious metal making record highs for two weeks on the trot.

This morning’s early action has started in the same vein with a record new high of $1125 already being made.

In fact, it is interesting to note that Gold is once again on the rise, but the Australian Dollar is yet to follow suit.

This is unusual because the two markets have enjoyed a high correlation recently. It could imply that the Australian Dollar is lagging today, but may catch up as markets get going.

A Fixed Odds Double (Up) trade could be a one way to trade this.

This is underlined as last week’s biggest gainers were the ‘commodity’ currencies of the Australian and Canadian Dollar (AUD/USD & USD/CAD).

The New Zealand Dollar wasn’t far behind thanks to its close ties to Australia.

It was a quiet week for other currency majors, but the Euro is setting the pace so far today in early trading (EUR/JPY & EUR/USD).

Stock markets enjoyed a positive week overall with the FTSE 100 and Nasdaq 100 (US Tech 100) closing at their highest levels in over 12 months.

What’s moving:

The Euro: EUR/USD & EUR/JPY
Canadian Dollar: USD/CAD.
Gold: Gold/USD.

Today’s market movers:

Today’s top announcements all come from the US.

The US consumer is the lifeblood of the American economic so today’s retail sales data at 13.30 (London time) could have a big impact on the US Dollar and Dow Jones.

In the afternoon, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke speaks and traders will be keen to see if there will be any hints dropped about future US policy.

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It was a big reversal day for stock markets yesterday. This was all the more important because most indices were on the cusp of consolidating above the highest levels for 2009, but they failed to do so.

The FTSE 100 has struggled with the 5300 level in the last 30 days, but failed to close above it once again yesterday. Early trading indicates that the FTSE 100 will open 0.3% lower.

Although the Dow Jones (Wall Street) gets all the headlines, the market followed by large financial traders is the wider S&P 500 index. This important index failed to close above 1,100 in October and it failed once again yesterday.

Gold took a tumble but is managing to hold above the $1,100 level. On the positive side, the uptrend looks just about intact and yesterday’s slump could be used as a buying opportunity.

Forex markets are very quiet today with the AUD/ USD the only pair offering any sort of movement in early trading.

What’s moving:

The Australian Dollar: AUD/USD

Today’s market movers:

Today’s top announcements are German GDP figures at 07.00 GMT. Watch for a reaction on the DAX and the EUR/USD.

Then at 13.30 we have Trade Balance numbers for Canada and the US released at the same time.

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The Australian Dollar is the front runner so far today after better than expected Australian employment data.

Speculation is now rife that the Australian central bank will raise interest rates at its next meeting. This has pushed the AUD/USD 0.5% higher to a fresh 12 month high in early trading.

The Australian Dollar is the currency in form at the moment with the AUD/USD breaking to fresh new highs. However against the Japanese Yen, it’s been slow going. Today the AUD/JPY could play catch up so Fixed Odds Double (Up) bets could be one option.

It wasn’t such a good day for the British Pound yesterday; traders were unimpressed by the Bank of England’s latest growth and inflation forecasts. The Pound slumped by around 1% against most major currencies including the Dollar, Yen and Euro.

Gold continues to quietly build the momentum, hitting a new record high over $1120 in early trading this morning.

Stock markets were also relatively quiet, but most major indices including the FTSE 100, Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq managed to post fresh 2009 highs at some point in the day.

Early indications are that some of this ground will be lost though as Asian markets sold off for most of the day.

What’s moving:

The Australian Dollar: AUD/USD & AUD/JPY
Gold

Today’s market movers:

Today’s top announcement is US unemployment claims at 13.30. Unemployment claims refer to the number of people seeking unemployment benefit and, after all the jobs data announcement last week, this data point could have a big impact today.

Watch for a reaction on Dollar pairs and the Dow Jones.

Aside from this, crude oil inventories at 16.00 could have a big impact on markets if there is a major deviation from the expected 0.8 million.

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After a bumper day’s trading on Monday, the Dow Jones (Wall Street) limped over the line yesterday, closing in the black for the 5th day in a row.

It was a lacklustre day all round though with most indices such as the FTSE 100 keeping in a tight range for most of the day.

It could be a quiet week overall. The 11th is a public holiday in North America (Remembrance Day) and although markets are open, the market heavyweights may have taken a look at the light economic calendar and decided to have an easy week.

‘Quiet’ can still be just as profitable as fast moving markets with fixed odds trading and the current market lull could be a good time to try out bets like ‘barrier ranges’ and ‘no touch’.

On Forex markets, the Pound managed an impressive reversal against the Dollar (GBP/USD) yesterday, but so far today, most currencies are treading water with the notable exception of the Yen.

Strong Japanese economic data has caused the Yen to rally well against the rest of the world. The GBP/JPY and AUD/JPY are the biggest losers so far. Of these, the GBP/JPY could be the one to keep your eye on today with a number of heavy hitting UK announcement due out today.

What’s moving:

The Yen: USD/JPY, GBP/JPY, EUR/JPY & AUD/JPY

Today’s market movers:

The top tickets today come from the UK with claimant count change (unemployment benefit claimers) and the average earnings index due at 09.30.

Following this, we have the Bank of England inflation report with Governor King speaking at 10.30. GBP/USD and GBP/JPY could be the pairs to watch today.

Public holidays in France, the US and Canada.

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Stock markets have their good days and their bad days, and yesterday was certainly one of the good days.

The Dow Jones (Wall Street) rocketed higher to hit a fresh 12 month high of 10,227. Other indices such as the FTSE 100 and Nasdaq rose by a similar margin, but the Dow is the first to break for new highs.

It was a similarly storming day for the ‘risky’ currencies on the Forex markets. Essentially anything that wasn’t the Yen or US Dollar was in play. The biggest gainers on the day were the Canadian Dollar and New Zealand Dollar.

As often happens after such a big day, we’re seeing a correction in early trading today as traders take their foot off the accelerator.

There is something more than a correction going on with the Pound though, with Sterling the heaviest faller so far today.

This might perhaps be as traders take early positions ahead of Wednesday’s inflation report. GBP/USD has already moved more than an average day’s range and the day has just begun. There’s been a good bounce off yesterday’s high though, so perhaps some bets to the upside aren’t out of the question.

What’s moving:

The Pound (if betting against): GBP/USD, EUR/GBP & GBP/JPY
US Dollar: USD/CAD
The New Zealand Dollar (if betting against): NZD/USD

Today’s market movers:

Not a tremendous amount of market moving events due today.

The main events are German economic sentiment at 10.00 which may impact the Euro.

There are also a couple of US central bankers speaking at 14.15 and 15.05 which may have an impact on the Dollar.

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Stock markets such as the Down Jones (Wall Street) and the FTSE 100 managed to close last week in positive territory, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.

Investors were confronted by a host of top tier economic data including interest rate announcements and important US employment data.

It was a volatile week and the big economic announcements could have been interpreted either way. Thankfully for stock markets, investors appear to be keen to look at the glass as being half full rather than half empty and this positivist attitude is still in force judging by this morning’s early action.

The FTSE 100 is set to 0.7% higher, oil is up and gold is once again flirting with the $1,100 level.

On the Forex markets, the Yen and US Dollar are firmly out of favour with the Yen coming out worse overall.

The Pound, Euro, Canadian Dollar, Australian Dollar and New Zealand Dollar are all surging ahead. The antipodeans (New Zealand and Australian Dollar) are the pick of the bunch so far today.

In addition, the Pound/ US Dollar (GBP/ USD) is surging higher today with September’s high of $1.6741 the next likely target. There could be some good moves to the upside until that point, but it will be interesting to see how the pair reacts once that level is reached.

What’s moving:

The Australian Dollar: AUD/USD & AUD/JPY
The New Zealand Dollar: NZD/USD
The Pound: GBP/USD & GBP/JPY
The Euro: EUR/USD & EUR/JPY
Canadian Dollar: CAD/USD

Today’s market movers:

Not a tremendous amount of market moving events due today.

The standout news items are the German industrial production, out at 11.00 GMT, and Canadian housing, which starts at 13.15.

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The bulls were firmly back on control last night the Dow Jones closing above the magical 10,000 level in some style.

The Dow (Wall Street) had its first 200 point day in four months. Traders are now betting that tomorrow’s monthly payroll data will show the smallest decline in jobs from any month of 2009.

A lot of the thrashing about this week has come about as traders try to predict the outcome of the all important US Non Farm Payroll (NFP) jobs data due out today at 13.30 GMT.

Today’s Non Farm employment change ranks as one of the most important economic announcements to come out each month and is eagerly anticipated by global traders.

The Non Farm Payroll numbers have been dropping every month since February 2008, but since April the pace of decline has been slowing. Economists are predicting a decline of -173,000 for this month which will be the best number since October 2008.

Watch for any big deviations from this number in either direction as this could cause huge movements on the Dow Jones and the US Dollar.

On forex markets, it was a quiet day yesterday with traders unwilling to place any big bets ahead of today’s NFP announcement. The Australian Dollar is the standout performer after positive noises from the Australian central bank.

Gold has so far failed to breach the $1,100 level, but today could be the day with volatility likely.

Gold tends to rally best when it’s not making the headlines and after a quiet couple of days, today could be the day that it finally breaks through the $1,100 level.

You can bet on this with Fixed Odds One Touch or Double trades.

What’s moving:

The Australian Dollar: AUD/USD & AUD/JPY

Today’s market movers:

Other than the aforementioned US Non Farm Payroll figures from the US, today we also have UK PPI data at 09.30 PPI is a useful inflation gauge so watch for movements on the GBP/USD and GBP/JPY.

At midday we have Canadian employment data so watch out for movements on the CAD/USD.

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In the last few days, the price of gold has shot up and yesterday came within just $2.50 of hitting the $1,100 level.

Gold tends to rally best when it’s out of the headlines and the recent move has been no exception. After busting through $1050, gold went through a quiet patch and it appears the Central Bank of India used this opportunity to buy 200 tons of the precious metal.

Stock markets performed a classic ‘buy the rumour/ sell the news’ action yesterday with a promising pre Federal Reserve announcement rally wiped out in 30 minutes.

US indices such as the Dow Jones (Wall Street) still managed to close in positive territory but not by much.

Overnight, the situation has worsened with big falls in Asian markets. Traders are fearful after the Bank of Japan confirmed that it will be ending its program to buy corporate debt. New Zealand also added to the dour mood with unemployment rates hitting a 5 year high.

The FTSE 100 is expected to open around 0.8% lower.

On Forex markets, the ‘safe’ currencies of the Dollar and Yen are in demand with risk taking firmly on the back foot. The Yen is the strongest asset with big gains against the Euro (EUR/JPY), Pound (GBP/JPY) and Australian Dollar (AUD/JPY). The New Zealand Dollar (NZD/USD) is the biggest faller after the poor unemployment figures.

Today’s central bank announcement from the ECB and MPC are likely to ‘no change’ verdicts, but there’s an outside chance that the Bank of England may not be halting its asset purchase plan as quickly as many are expecting.

Making a bet on the Pound (GBP/ USD) to sink after the announcement could be one way to play this, especially if using a Fixed Odds One Touch trade with the level set far way.

What’s moving:

The Yen: EUR/ JPY, GBP/ JPY, USD/ JPY & AUD/ JPY.
The US Dollar: GBP/ USD, EUR/ USD & AUD/ USD.
The New Zealand Dollar (If betting against): NZD/ USD

Today’s market movers:

Today’s big market movers are the two central bank announcements. At 12.00 we have the latest rate statement from the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy committee.

Rates are almost certain to remain at 0.5%, but the main interest is to do with the asset purchase facility and whether it will be continued or stopped like the Bank of Japan.

At 13.30 we have a similar announcement from the European Central Bank. Again rates are likely to be left on hold at 1%, but traders will be looking for signs of confidence from Trichet and his team.

Other top announcements today include Australian central bank Governor Stevens speaking at 08.55, UK manufacturing at 09.30 and US unemployment claims at 13.30.

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The FTSE 100 fell below 5000 briefly for the first time since the start of October yesterday.

UK stocks showed they still had some fight in them though with an afternoon rally bringing a close above this psychologically important level.

US markets like Nasdaq (US Tech 100) also enjoyed a late session surge and the FTSE is currently set to open up around 0.8% higher today.

Forex markets are relatively quiet after an inconclusive day’s trading yesterday. The Yen is showing some weakness, especially against the Euro (EUR/JPY), Pound (GBP/JPY) and Australian Dollar (AUD/JPY). However, moves have been unspectacular so far.

The reason for the cautious early trading is because today is going to be a very busy day with a number of major market moving events due.

The day’s main attractions are US ADP Non Farm Employment Change at 13.15 GMT and a statement from the FOMC at 19.15.

The ADP employment announcement estimates the change in the number of people employed during the previous month and compares this to the month before that. For the last three months, ADP has been negative with employment dropping each month. However, the pace of this decline has been slowing.

This month, economists are betting on the number for last month coming in at -188,000. Watch for any big deviations away from this number and there could be fireworks in US Dollar pairs, especially the USD/JPY and EUR/JPY.

Next we have the latest statement from the FOMC (the US central bank). It is almost certain that the Federal Reserve will keep rates at near zero, so no surprises are expected there, but keep your eye out for any news on any so called quantitative easing activities which will again impact the Dollar.

So called ‘Fed’ days can be highly volatile, but it’s also quite common for forex pairs like the GBP/USD finish the day mostly unchanged once all the post news thrashing about has subsided.

What’s moving:

The Pound (if betting against): EUR/GBP & GBP/JPY

Today’s market movers:

Aside from the ADP and FOMC announcements already mentioned, today we also have UK services economic data at 09.30, US manufacturing data at 15.00 and oil inventories at 15.30.

This website content does not constitute investment advice. No individual contributor, contributing company nor Online-Spread-Betting.com accept any responsibility for any use that may be made of the content.

It was a better day for world markets yesterday, as markets found enough buyers to rebound from last week’s over sold conditions.

The news that US car giant, Ford returned to profitability certainly helped lift markets like the FTSE 100 and Dow Jones.

Overnight the Australian central bank voted to raise interest rates for the second time in two weeks. Australian rates now stand at 3.5%, the highest in the Western world.

Australia sidestepped the worst part of the credit crunch and its economy appears to be expanding quicker than other major nations. The move was predicted by most economists, but there was a remote possibility of a 0.5% hike so the Australian Dollar actually dropped slightly on the news.

The Australian Dollar and its closely linked neighbour, the New Zealand Dollar, are in demand thanks to the carry trade. The carry trade involves borrowing from a low interest rate currency such as the Dollar or Yen and investing in higher yielding assets like the Australian Dollar. With Japanese rates close to zero and Australian rates at 3.5%, investors aim to pocket the difference through AUD/JPY.

Aside from the Australian Dollar, the Euro is showing some early strength today, particularly against the Yen and British Pound.

The day’s biggest riser so far is the New Zealand Dollar (NZD/USD) as investors bet that the Australia’s neighbour will follow suit with rate hikes of its own.

In addition, EUR/USD has been trading in a tight range since the 28th of November between roughly $1.4700 and $1.4850. It could be worth looking for a breakout of these levels today with either a breakout trade or double trades.

What’s moving:

The New Zealand Dollar: NZD/USD
The Euro: EUR/GBP, EUR/USD & EUR/JPY

Today’s market movers:

Today’s main announcements are UK construction data at 09.30 and US factory orders at 15.00.

This website content does not constitute investment advice. No individual contributor, contributing company nor Online-Spread-Betting.com accept any responsibility for any use that may be made of the content.