The FOMC will begin its 2 day meeting today, with the markets expecting a 25 basis points interest rate increase upon its announcement on Wednesday, which would make this its fourth hike this year.
Homebuilder sentiment in the US declined in December to its lowest point in over 3 years, and could be an early indication of an economic softening.
Theresa May has announced that the "meaningful vote" for her Brexit Withdrawal Agreement is due to be held in the third week of January, a
Written by Kyle Rodda - IG Australia
ASX yesterday: The ASX200 put in a very respectable day's trade yesterday. It was looking gloomy at the outset. Market participants were preoccupied with the economic struggles in China and the Friday sell-off on Wall Street. However, the 32-point drop forecast for the Australian market didn't materialise, providing scope for the index to cling-on to the 5600-mark, and forge gains throughout the day. The Australian session ended with the ASX200 1.00 per
Theresa May is coming under increasing pressure from MPs to stop the gridlock on Brexit negotiations.
The pound is expected to see further volatility until at least mid-January as the unknown future of Brexit continues.
The Dollar continued to trade at a 19-month high on Monday as concerns over slowing economic growth have reduced the appetite for riskier stocks and currencies and have backed the greenback as a safe-haven.
The price of bitcoin has fallen below the cost to mi
Another Week, Another Set of Brexit Scenarios
It seems the weather patterns behind the Brexit seem to changing at a more rapid clip – always ending up back ‘in irons’ (pardon the nautical terminology) as the clock steadily winds down to the March 29 separation. This past week, was particularly momentous with the Prime Minister’s proposal supposedly going to vote in Parliament; but May decided to pull the vote before the allotted session as it was clear it would be voted down handily. And, c
Expected index adjustments
Please see the expected dividend adjustment figures for a number of our major indices for the week commencing 17 Dec 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
Written by Kyle Rodda - IG Australia
2018 reaches a climax this week: It’s effectively the last serious trading week of the year, and the economic calendar reflects that. Indeed, there’ll be a handful of days between Christmas and New Years to keep across, but with little news and thin trade, it’s tough to imagine anything coming out of them. The markets are still ailing, with the bears firmly in control of price action. There’s so many risk-events coming up this week, traders with a bearis
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker stumped Theresa May's effort to renegotiate on a key Brexit withdrawal point, namely the Irish Backstop.
China's reported industrial output and retail sales growth missed expectations. Industrial output growing by only 5.4% in November the slowest rate of increase in almost three years.
Asian Stocks fell as China's economy shows weakening. Shares in Hong Kong and Japan led declines, Japan Topix index sliding 1.5% and Shanghai Compo
Written by Kyle Rodda - IG Australia
A (relatively) settled session: It’s been a soft day for global equities. With almost exactly two-hours to go in the US session at time of writing, another modest rally has apparently been faded by traders. Indications are that Wall Street will close lower. If proven true, this will punctuate a mixed day for Europe, and quite a solid day for the Asian region. The former found little impetus to be bid higher, while the Asian session showed the ebullience
Prime Minister Theresa May won a vote of no confidence in her leadership of the Conservative party last night. The results showed that Mrs May won the vote by 200 to 117, securing 63% of the total votes, she is now immune from any further vote's of no confidence for a year.
GBP has fallen back from Wednesday's highs despite Theresa May successfully defending her leadership as investors believed she would win by a larger majority, the pound is currently trading at $1.2617 against the dolla
Written by Kyle Rodda - IG Australia
What’s making headlines: There’s an hour and a half to go in the US session and global equities are up. Let’s assume they finish that way – there is plenty of room for clarification (and rationalization) late-on, if need be. Traders have taken the new green shoots in the trade-war and spun them into a positive narrative. Sure, the old green shots lay trampled below the new ones, but perhaps this time around the positivity will be given a chance to thrive
Asia stocks were higher Wednesday morning; Nikkei 225 rising over 2%, ASX 200 up by 1.25% and Hang Seng Index around 1.36%. This was followed by the news of China to cut US car tariffs from the planned 40% to 15%, the same tax charge on car imports from other countries
May traveled on Tuesday back to Europe to try and gain a few more concessions from the European side, in regards to the Brexit deal. It is rumoured that 48 letters of no longer supporting May have been sent. May to face a v
Written by Kyle Rodda - IG Australia
The pattern continues: Wall Street indices have been swinging about madly again. The pattern continues: an open, a rally or fall, then a retracement or recovery. Today we’ve had an open, a rally, then retracement, then a recovery again. There were stories behind this price-action. Everything that happened overnight appeared perfectly explicable. One wonders though if the swings in trading activity are being overly attributed to headlines. Or perhaps it’s
Trading in Asia was mixed as US shares stabilized overnight. In the meanwhile, the ongoing discussions between China and the US adds uncertainty. The bottom performer among major Asian indices was the Nikkei, which fell 0.45%.
Oil climbed higher amidst resuming hopes following the 1.2 million barrels per day production cut agreed by OPEC+. However, concerns that the US could much further increase its shale production and the slowing global economy could make the output cut less effective.
Written by Kyle Rodda - IG Australia
Day 1 of 5: Monday looks like it may be one of those days where Wall Street hesitantly pulls itself up out of the dirt in the final hours of trade. There is just under two-hours to go in the US session, and at a high level, things appear not-too-bad. Let's return to America a little later. Whichever way we happen to end the first 24 hours of trade for the week, heightened risk, growth fears and bearishness is still driving sentiment. There has been no sh
The Dow will open lower today than its open price for the year following weak jobs data and the resulting sell-off of FAANG companies.
US Non-farm payrolls grew by 155,000 on Friday, missing estimates of 198,000 whilst unemployment is near record lows at 3.7%
Chinese markets had a poor start to the week following missed trade estimates for November. The Hang Seng has fallen 1.41%, the Shanghai composite by 0.84% and the Shenzhen composite by 1.15%
The European Court of Justi
Written by Kyle Rodda - IG Australia
Friday session: Friday capped off another horror week for Wall Street. It was US equities’ worst week since March. Traders are currently operating within a volatility trap – and there are few indications this will soon end. The VIX is elevated, above 23 at the last reading, but occupied time above the 25-mark at stages during the week. Volatility is an active trader’s friend, and for the most part the opportunities it has thrown have been relished. Liqui
Expected index adjustments
Please see the expected dividend adjustment figures for a number of our major indices for the week commencing 10 Dec 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
Make or Break for Brexit?
There have already been so many twists and turns in the UK’s efforts to negotiate its separation from the European Union that that investors are getting dizzy. It is troublingly difficult to gain a reliable bead on a probable outcome for this stalemate, but the lack of time and dwindling hope of an outcome that will satisfy the majority of those involved raises the threat of a ‘bad’ outcome and even worse market response. This is not one of those events where igno
Bitcoin hit year low falling below $3,500 after a 11% dive.
Chip stocks in Europe and Asia tumbled after the arrest of Huawei CFO . AMS dived 7%, STMicroelectronics fell 4% and Dialog Semiconductor slid 3%.
Dow rebounds after falling 780 points ending the day only slightly lower yesterday.
10-year Treasury yield fell to 2.83% amid stock sell-off compared to the beginning of the week where it was above 3%.
Non-Farm payrolls today expected to have expanded by 198,00 i
Written by Kyle Rodda - IG Australia
Panic stations, still: The behaviour in financial markets is resembling cats trapped in a burning room: the air is unclear, it’s unbearably hot, and people are scrambling to find an exit – or at least, somewhere appropriate to hide. The chaos is one thing, but the true issue – as is always the case, when these situations become particularly fraught – is no one can really describe why this is going on exactly. Now, we all know the stories: the Fed has equ
Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada where she faces extradition to the US for violating US sanctions, leading to growing tensions between the China and US that create further doubt about the cease-fire on the tariff war declared over the weekend. Shares in Asian suppliers to Huawei sank on Thursday after the arrest was made pubic.
Asian markets fell on Thursday ahead of the highly awaited OPEC meeting to be held in Austria today. The Hang Seng was down 2.62%, the Nikkei fell 1.
UK government found in contempt of parliament for the first time due to not releasing the full legal advice regarding Brexit. The government has now agreed that it will be published which may cause more instability in the markets
Markets have retreated following their rally attributed to agreements made between the US and China at the G20. The fall comes amidst increasing sentiment of an economic slowdown as well as reduced faith in trade war negotiations following officials of the Trump
Please see the following analysis from Chris Beauchamp, Chief Market Analyst at IG, a global leader in online trading.
OPEC preview
OPEC faces a difficult task this week, as it aims to prop up the oil price without antagonising the US or putting too much strain on state finances by cutting production too much.
The current state of demand and supply
After being in deficit for 2018 and 2019, the oil market is expected to shift back to surplus next year:
Crude output c
Written by Kyle Rodda - IG Australia
Inverted Yield Curves: There’ll probably be a lot of talk about “inverted yield curves” and “recessions” today. For some, reading such headlines will come as a shock. Perhaps even a cause of anxiety. It’s wise to understand why such commentary has emerged – and what that may imply. The price action in US Treasuries has been quite dramatic in the past 24-hours: the (what ought to be) familiar themes regarding a looming global economic slow-down, and the p
Theresa May will begin the five days of her House of Commons debate today, culminating in a historic vote on her Brexit compromise deal on December 11.
The Dow Jones closed 1.13% higher at 25,826.43 yesterday, whilst both the S&P and Nasdaq posted gains of 1.09% and 1.51 percent, respectively.
Asian shares fell on Tuesday as the optimism gathered from the US-China trade truce ends over doubts of a final resolution: the Hang Seng lost 0.3% as the ASX gave up 0.8% and Japan's Nik
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