The Financial Fixed Odds update from David Evans, Market Analyst, BetOnMarkets.

Perhaps today’s most important announcement is the statement from the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee at 12.00 GMT.

Rates are highly unlikely to be changed, but that’s not what traders will be most interested to hear about.

In recent months the Bank of England has been buying up UK government debt in an effort to keep liquidity flowing throughout the system.

Any reduction in this Asset Purchase Facility could directly impact the UK government’s ability to finance its debt.

Keep your eye on the GBP/USD in case markets hear something they don’t like. There could be a swift sell off if the Bank indicates it will be scaling back its program.

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

The Financial Fixed Odds update from David Evans, Market Analyst, BetOnMarkets.

This morning the key trends emerging are strength in the US dollar and weakness in the Japanese yen.

The Euro/Dollar and Dollar Yen cross rates are the big movers so far this morning as traders jockey for position ahead of today’s ADP employment data from the US.

The pound is finally having a good day after being hit for six against the yen in the first two trading sessions of 2010. The Pound/Yen is up 0.32% and the Euro/Sterling down 0.35%.

A good currency pair to focus on today could be the Euro/Dollar. With BetOnMarkets the number of speculators:

• currently holding a record number of long positions (predicting upside) in the dollar.
• shorting the Euro (predicting downside) is the 2nd largest ever.

When speculation reaches these extreme levels, it has historically been a good time to go against the crowd.

Buying any weakness in the Euro/Dollar could be an option over the next week or so.

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

The Financial Fixed Odds update from David Evans, Market Analyst, BetOnMarkets.

Today’s economic calendar represents the first meaningful test of the emerging optimism in 2010.

The biggest news item is the release of the latest US ADP Non Farm Employment Change numbers at 13.15.

This jobs report is often a good indicator of what might happen with the all important Non Farm Payrolls on Friday so keep your eye on the US dollar pairs around this time. Also see Currency Spreads.

As well as the ADP figures, coming up, we also have the release of the minutes from the last FOMC (US central bank) meeting at 19.00 this evening.

Although it’s a racing certainty that a rate hike wasn’t considered for December, analysts will be looking for hints of activity further out into late 2010.

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

The Financial Fixed Odds update from David Evans, Market Analyst, BetOnMarkets.

Early morning moves suggest a continuation of the drive into the Japanese Yen that started yesterday.

The USD/JPY is down 0.75% (i.e. the Yen is rising against the Dollar), while the AUD/JPY is down 0.6%.

The US Dollar is under pressure across the board, not just against the Yen. The GBP/ USD and EUR/ USD are up 0.45% this morning.

One of the key currency battles is against the Canadian Dollar, with the USD/CAD falling 0.4% today.

The Canadian economy is closely linked to the price of crude oil and, with prices approaching $82 this morning, the Canadian Dollar is once again putting pressure on its North American neighbour.

The only economic announcement of real note today is US pending home sales at 15.00 where analysts are expecting a drop on last month’s numbers.

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

The Financial Fixed Odds update from David Evans, Market Analyst, BetOnMarkets.

Now that the dog days of 2009 are behind us, it would also be useful to look at how various markets performed last year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (Wall Street) closed the year up 18.82%, which is impressive, but even this lagged behind other US stock markets.

The broader S&P 500 rose 23.45%, while the Tech heavy Nasdaq rose by a staggering 43.89%.

Tech giants such as Apple finished the year on a high thanks to intense speculation over new product launches.

This could be useful for longer term bets on the broader S&P 500. Since 1971, the S&P 500 has performed twice as well when the Nasdaq is leading markets higher, compared to when the Nasdaq is lagging the other US markets.

As for other markets, the FTSE 100 finished the year up 22.07%, while gold finished just 23.95% higher having dropped $100 from its peak in December.

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