Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index pulled back last night with gambling shares having a bad time after falling revenues in Macau's casino region. US-Sino tensions rise as a US ship enters Chinese territory. Stay on top of currency markets as trade war tensions rise with #IGForexChat.
The financial and healthcare sectors pushed the ASX lower whilst China remained closed for another public holiday. Bank of Australia holds cash rate at 1.5%.
Japan’s Nikkei was the lone star in the Asian over
IG is hosting the first #IGForexChat on Thursday 4th October at 6.30pm
You can watch the live broadcast using the video player below (with the broadcast starting just before the above time), or from within the dealing platform. We want to hear your questions so we can put them to the panel, opening up a two way channel between you and a group of experts which you may not usually have access to. The first two guests will be Raj Dhall at tradingview.com and Samuel Morton at lovethepips and fo
Deal done: Hopes were whetted during overnight trade from the news that the US, Mexico and Canada had agreed to a revised “NAFTA” agreement. To be (re)named USMCA – the US-Mexico-Canada-Agreement, a clear declaration of the Trumpian neo-Nationalist, “America First” agenda – the trade agreement reconfigures the North American trade consensus, with a skew towards US economic interests. It was apparently the Canadian’s who finally caved in to political and economic pressure on the trade pact, backi
I'm happy to announce that you can now add drawings to the indicator study area both on desktop and mobile of the IG charts. This new functionality has been developed on the back of client feedback submitted to Community, from within the dealing platform, and directly with our Trading Services and client facing teams. If you have any other requests, please add them in the comment section below and we'll make sure the charting dev team and product owners see them.
You can now draw on indicat
The U.S. and Canada agreed to a trade deal that would preserve a three-way bloc with Mexico, setting the stage for their leaders to sign the accord by the end of November. The new deal will be called the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA.
Mexican peso and Canadian dollar gains as uncertainty is lifted and greater stability takes hold of the Americas.
The euro was hit by worries about a rise in Italy's fiscal deficit after the Italian government agreed to set a higher than expe
ASX: SPI futures are indicating a 23-point drop at the open for the ASX200 this morning, effectively wiping Friday's solid gains. It comes as no surprise, really, with the lion's share of activity centring around the embattled financial sector. Bank stocks underpinned the rally on the ASX on Friday, led by CBA, in signs that the market believed the sector's recent trend lower was overdone. It may be a case of jumping the gun for traders on that one, as sentiment appears sour once more following
Markets Heading into October and the Fourth Quarter
With this past Friday, we closed out week, month and quarter. The shortest measure was a period of consolidation for most assets – from the top performing US equity indices to the EURUSD’s make over break technical move to trade back into range. More impressive for its deviation from character (statistical norm) was the performance for the month of September. Historically, this period is one of significant upheaval for the capital markets
Expected index adjustments
Please see the expected dividend adjustment figures for a number of our major indices for the week commencing 1 Oct 2018. If you have any queries or questions on this please let us know in the comments section below. For further information regarding dividend adjustments, and how they affect your positions, please take a look at the video.
NB: All dividend adjustments are forecasts and therefore speculative. A dividend adjustment is a cash neutral ad
Yesterday the US Federal Reserve raises interest rates for the 3rd time this year.
Asian stocks post negative sessions following the Fed announcement being led by the technology and energy sectors.
Major currency pairs hold steady whilst the USD basket, despite initial volatility, traded largely flat. Minor gains have been made this morning putting the dollar about a quarter of a percent up.
Oil continues to climb as investors continue to be cautiously optimistic that the Ir
Asian stocks are broadly higher ahead of the Fed rate decision later today, whilst the NZ dollar is buoyed by higher business confidence.
Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani came to a head at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday with the US President vowing more sanctions against Tehran, whilst President Rouhani suggested that Trump suffers from a "weakness of intellect." Trump is really trying to bring the price of oil into play before the midterms as high oil prices could hit the
The overarching narrative in global markets is transforming from one preoccupied with the trade war, to one focused on Thursday morning’s (AEST) meeting of the US Federal Reserve. As far as developments in the trade war go, in a week bereft other major stories, traders are demonstrating tentative signs of ease on the subject. Markets are strapping themselves in for the long haul, and a begrudging acceptance that this thing will take time to play out is the prevailing mentality. With that in mind
Asian equities diverge, as Chinese shares fall and Japanese shares climb.
The Euro jumped on Monday after Mario Draghi of the ECB signalled that policymakers are on track to reduce stimulus measures. He stated that the bank was confident it could maintain inflation targets over the next few years.
In the EM space, India's Nifty Fifty stock market is seeing a sell off after reports that a major lender is struggling to service $12.6bn of debt. The index is down 7% since highs seen in
Trade War: Markets were made to curb their enthusiasm overnight. Trade war realities bit again and the relief rally that had defined last week’s trade dissipated. It’s not a terrible cause for alarm yet, but it highlights how difficult to predict the impact on global trade disruption happens to be. It’s a debate that challenges orthodoxy, especially given that markets have done all they can to shrug off the potential consequences new-protectionism will have on global growth. Inefficiencies aboun
Expected index adjustments
Please see the expected dividend adjustment figures for a number of our major indices for the week commencing 25 Sep 2018. If you have any queries or questions on this please let us know in the comments section below. For further information regarding dividend adjustments, and how they affect your positions, please take a look at the video.
NB: All dividend adjustments are forecasts and therefore speculative. A dividend adjustment is a cash neutral ad
Oil prices at 4-year high after OPEC declines to raise supply
Bank holiday in China and Japan
Trade Talks: Abe's trade discussion with Trump is "constructive" in second round, China will only hold trade talks once Trump stops threats
Trade wars cause the European markets to dip, Brexit is also affecting sentiment
Dollar remains steady, whilst Indian rupee drops
Asian overnight: A largely bearish affair overnight saw losses through the Hang Seng and ASX 200,
Geopolitics is already shaping-up as the major driver of financial markets this week. Data is rather light, with the US Federal Reserve’s meeting on Thursday morning (AEST) the centrepiece of an economic calendar otherwise filled with a handful of central-bank-head speeches and a meeting of the RBNZ. Hence, traders will find themselves sucked into a vacuum that can only be filled by noise surround the global economy’s biggest contemporary international-political hot-points. The break-down in tal
Trade Wars Update: It No Longer Matters?
Seemingly a routine occurrence for the global financial markets, we saw the state of global trade deteriorate yet again through the past week. As expected, the United States went forward with tariffs on an additional $200 billion in Chinese goods. The terms are for a 10 percent rate on a range of imports that will increase to 25 percent by the end of the year. The standard, immediate response from China was quickly implemented, but only on $60 billi
Global equity markets are shining with the Japanese Nikkei hitting an 8-month high, Chinese shares on course to make their biggest weekly gains in 2 years, and a strong earnings outlook expected to continue.
US stock market also looks to continue it's march to record highs are strong fund inflows support the market. Figures released on Thursday by EPFR Global quoted a $14.5bn inflow.
The Hong Kong dollar (pegged to that of the USD) strengthened early Friday ahead of the US Federal
Submit your questions now! In October we will be hosting a number of live chats and discussion dedicated to the world of currency trading and the foreign exchange market. Each #IGForexChat will focus on a unique topic, relevant to the macroeconomic landscape today.
These topics will include; the ongoing US - Sino trade war, Trump's protectionist tariffs, and the renminbi; the uncertainty surrounding Brexit and any ongoing EU negotiations; and finally the recent sell side pressure affecting
Stocks pull back in the Asian overnight market after a tepid close of Wall Street last night.
Bellwether metals copper and zinc, along with other industrial metals, continue their rally as investors and traders focus on increasing demand rather than US-Sino relations.
Rio Tinto announced a $3.2bn share buyback scheme, and whilst the Anglo-Australian miner saw 3.2% gain the ASX didn’t follow suit and ended down slightly. Potential swings on the UK Rio listing on the open.
In
ASX yesterday: SPI futures are indicating a 5-point jump at the open for the ASX200, as traders continue to ride the wave of relief washing-over global markets. The boost in global commodity prices has underpinned the bounce in the ASX, with the materials and energy sectors leading the charge higher. Commodities markets maintained their run overnight, collectively climbing 0.76 per cent according to the Bloomberg Commodity Index, while the price of oil also threatened to challenge new highs, hol
The rebound in Chinese stock markets has extended and US bond yields are steady after the market digested the trade tariff news. MSCI Asia-Pacific index up 0.95%, whilst the Japanese Nikkei rises 1.3%
A reclassification of the S&P 500 will see tech behemoth such as Facebook and Alphabet move from 'information tech' stocks into 'communication services' along with about a fifth of the index.
Oil prices are seen to consolidate after rally.
Cryptocurrency markets are holding
It was a choppy day in markets as sentiment vacillated in response to the latest escalation in the US-China trade war. US President Trump made traders wait a little longer than was flagged for his administration's trade announcement, leaving it until well after Wall Street's close to drop the news. Upon the eventual release, initial reactions were unfavourable: though the $US200bn worth of tariffs would go ahead on September 24th at the rate of 10 per cent, this will be upped to 25% come the sta
