Our Picks
Top content from across the community, hand-picked by us.
Bitcoin hits year low - EMEA Brief 07 Dec
MichaelaIG posted a blog entry in Market News,
Bitcoin hit year low falling below $3,5000 after a 11% dive.
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MichaelaIG,
Panic stations - APAC brief 7 Dec
MaxIG posted a blog entry in Market News,
Panic stations, still: The behavior 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 equivocated and that’s confused the heck out of markets; US-China relations are hot-and-cold; future global growth expectations are being unwound; Brexit is on-again-off-again; and a breakthrough in oil markets out of the OPEC meeting hasn’t emerged. These issues are ongoing, so it’s not any sort of surprise that they’d all be weighing on markets in some form. The confusion is why they are all conspiring to create such fireworks now.
Risk-off: Maybe traders have just taken too many hits in the last 3-months, and the bulls are effectively tapping out. A premature call, here, to be sure, however there seems so little motivation to hold onto riskier assets. It seems that collectively, a clear strategy to handle the volatility isn’t yet to emerge. The classic plays into safe-havens can be seen: US Treasuries are going on a tear presently, for a variety of reasons to be discussed shortly. An unwinding of the Yen carry trade has pushed the USD/JPY to 112.50. And gold is looking at a break-out above resistance at $1240. Inversely, risk proxies have also been thumped: global equities (needless to say) are getting hammered, the AUD/USD is taking a rinsing, and commodities, led by a 3 per cent tumble in oil, and a 1.1 per cent fall in copper, are plummeting.
Risk-off: Maybe traders have just taken too many hits in the last 3-months, and the bulls are effectively tapping out. A premature call, here, to be sure, however there seems so little motivation to hold onto riskier assets. It seems that collectively, a clear strategy to handle the volatility isn’t yet to emerge. The classic plays into safe-havens can be seen: US Treasuries are going on a tear presently, for a variety of reasons to be discussed shortly. An unwinding of the Yen carry trade has pushed the USD/JPY to 112.50. And gold is looking at a break-out above resistance at $1240. Inversely, risk proxies have also been thumped: global equities (needless to say) are getting hammered, the AUD/USD is taking a rinsing, and commodities, led by a 3 per cent tumble in oil, and a 1.1 per cent fall in copper, are plummeting.
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MaxIG,
#IGCommodityChat: Base Metals
JamesIG posted a blog entry in IG Community Blog,
Join us today at 1pm for the final #IGCommodityChat, when we will be talking to economist Daniel Lacalle and mining analyst John Meyer about base metal markets. Put your questions to the experts as part of the live Q&A by using #IGCommodityChat using the comments section below.
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JamesIG,
China-US cease-fire in jeoprady as Huawei CFO is arrested in Canada - EMEA Brief 06 Dec
DanielaIG posted a blog entry in Market News,
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.
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DanielaIG,
New platform feature: Deal position preview
DanielaIG posted a blog entry in IG Product Updates,
On the back of client feedback and the success experienced on the IG apps, we have now added the deal position preview functionality to the web dealing platform. This feature is automatically enabled on the new dealing platform. To disable it, right click on the graph and select Position Preview from the “show” dropdown.
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DanielaIG,
Government Found in Contempt as Theresa May Suffers Further Defeats in the House - EMEA Brief 05 Dec
IGAaronC posted a blog entry in Market News,
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
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IGAaronC,
OPEC preview
MaxIG posted a blog entry in Market News,
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 continues to rise despite the decline in Iranian output:
Crude oil seasonality
Usually oil weakens in the first two months of Q4, but it then tends to pick up from the first half of December, beginning a steady rally into the summer.
Expectations
Current forecasts suggest a cut of 1.4 million barrels per day will result from the meeting. Anything less than this would likely cause another drop in prices. The meeting may not go with an explicit number, merely creating an agreement to restrict supply. Again, this is unlikely to be well-received by the oil market.
Saudi Arabia – walking a tightrope
Saudi Arabia faces a difficult balancing act. On the one hand, it must avoid letting the oil price fall too far and hurt its finances (and those of the others in OPEC, though that is less of a concern). On the other, it will seek to avoid cutting too far, too fast, since this might lead to a sharp bounce in the oil price, which would annoy the White House.
Saudi Arabia knows that it has outraged world opinion with its actions regarding Jamal Khashoggi, and that only the lack of outright condemnation from the US has saved them from serious consequences. Trump’s decision to equivocate on the subject, while not conditional on keeping oil prices down, may waver if they cut output by a significant amount.
But then again, with a defence budget running at 10% of GDP (almost five times the global average and three times the US budget in GDP terms), plus large state spending commitments, Saudi Arabia has to look at some cuts in order to restore balance to its finances.
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 continues to rise despite the decline in Iranian output:
Crude oil seasonality
Usually oil weakens in the first two months of Q4, but it then tends to pick up from the first half of December, beginning a steady rally into the summer.
Expectations
Current forecasts suggest a cut of 1.4 million barrels per day will result from the meeting. Anything less than this would likely cause another drop in prices. The meeting may not go with an explicit number, merely creating an agreement to restrict supply. Again, this is unlikely to be well-received by the oil market.
Saudi Arabia – walking a tightrope
Saudi Arabia faces a difficult balancing act. On the one hand, it must avoid letting the oil price fall too far and hurt its finances (and those of the others in OPEC, though that is less of a concern). On the other, it will seek to avoid cutting too far, too fast, since this might lead to a sharp bounce in the oil price, which would annoy the White House.
Saudi Arabia knows that it has outraged world opinion with its actions regarding Jamal Khashoggi, and that only the lack of outright condemnation from the US has saved them from serious consequences. Trump’s decision to equivocate on the subject, while not conditional on keeping oil prices down, may waver if they cut output by a significant amount.
But then again, with a defence budget running at 10% of GDP (almost five times the global average and three times the US budget in GDP terms), plus large state spending commitments, Saudi Arabia has to look at some cuts in order to restore balance to its finances.
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MaxIG,.jpg.ea79bb9f6e623e7c6aae58c007ffe3f9.jpg)
Inverted Yield Curves -APAC brief 5 Dec
MaxIG posted a blog entry in Market News,
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 prospect of softer future US inflation has seen traders cut their predictions of future rates hikes from the US Fed. The short-end of the yield curve – the end which is more exposed to the near-term actions of the Fed – has held up well; but it’s the middle-to-end of the curve – the part controlled very much by traders’ expectations about future growth and inflation – that is experiencing the greatest duress.
What it all means: In short: traders are anticipating an imminent end to the Fed’s hiking cycle, and they are now trying to approximate when the Fed may cut rates again. This is where the talk of recession starts to pop-up. As is easy enough to grasp, the Fed would need to cut rates in the event that the economy requires stimulatory support from monetary policy. Such circumstances would emerge if the economy began to slip into something resembling a recession. Hence, when yields at some point in the curve invert, it’s a reflection of traders collectively estimating that in the near-enough future, interest rates will be lower than what they are (around about) now, because the economy will enter into a period of significant weakness to require a rate cut from the Fed.
What it all means: In short: traders are anticipating an imminent end to the Fed’s hiking cycle, and they are now trying to approximate when the Fed may cut rates again. This is where the talk of recession starts to pop-up. As is easy enough to grasp, the Fed would need to cut rates in the event that the economy requires stimulatory support from monetary policy. Such circumstances would emerge if the economy began to slip into something resembling a recession. Hence, when yields at some point in the curve invert, it’s a reflection of traders collectively estimating that in the near-enough future, interest rates will be lower than what they are (around about) now, because the economy will enter into a period of significant weakness to require a rate cut from the Fed.
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MaxIG,
Post in Crude Oil (WTI)
Mercury posted a post in a topic,
"Brent is now approaching (well poking through) my upper channel line. I have been saying for weeks that this is the point to consider that a counter trend rally may be on. We still need a close above to confirm but sometimes the breakout can be fast and it looks to me like we are in a wave 3 (strong move)."
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JamesIG,
Liquidity is thinning, Fed is telling us something, a true G20 breakthrough? - DFX key themes
JohnDFX posted a blog entry in Market News,
We have officially closed out November Friday and we are now heading into the final month of the trading year. Historically, December is one of the most reserved months of the calendar year with strong positive returns for benchmark risk assets like the S&P 500 along with a sharp drop in volume and significant drop in traditional volatility measures (like the VIX index).
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JamesIG,
High-Stakes in the House of Commons - EMEA Brief 04 Dec
JoeIG posted a blog entry in Market News,
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.
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JoeIG,
A bullish Monday - APAC brief 2 Dec
MaxIG posted a blog entry in Market News,
A bullish Monday: That big uplift we were all expecting after the weekend’s events at the G20 has transpired. The trade-war truce, as fleeting as it may prove to be, has supported a substantial enough boost in sentiment. Risk appetite has been teased, and risk assets across the global, beginning in the Asian session yesterday, and carrying through European and North American trade, have dutifully rallied, consequently. It’s a synchronized boost, prevailing across asset-classes, with traders relishing the double-shot of bullishness injected into markets in the last 7 days: a much more dovish Fed, which has lowered the possibility of higher global interest rates; and a de-escalation of the trade-war, which has ameliorated the concerns regarding future global economic growth.
Global stocks: There remains, at time of writing, a few moments left in the North American session, and as it stands, the good-vibrations are waning somewhat. Nevertheless, Wall Street is higher, capping-off a positive day for markets overall. The NASDAQ is leading the charge, up around 1 per cent for the session, while the Dow Jones and S&P500 are 0.7 per cent higher for the day. It follows an Asian and European session which saw the Nikkei up 1 per cent, the CSI300 up 2.8 per cent, the DAX up 1.85 per cent, and the FTSE100 up 1.2 per cent. Volumes have also been very substantial, running 30 per cent above average on the S&P, and a remarkable 45 per cent above average in Chinese share markets, adding conviction behind the day’s trade.
Global stocks: There remains, at time of writing, a few moments left in the North American session, and as it stands, the good-vibrations are waning somewhat. Nevertheless, Wall Street is higher, capping-off a positive day for markets overall. The NASDAQ is leading the charge, up around 1 per cent for the session, while the Dow Jones and S&P500 are 0.7 per cent higher for the day. It follows an Asian and European session which saw the Nikkei up 1 per cent, the CSI300 up 2.8 per cent, the DAX up 1.85 per cent, and the FTSE100 up 1.2 per cent. Volumes have also been very substantial, running 30 per cent above average on the S&P, and a remarkable 45 per cent above average in Chinese share markets, adding conviction behind the day’s trade.
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MaxIG,
Adding the % Range column to a watchlist
DanielaIG posted a blog entry in IG Product Updates,
You can now add % Range to a watchlist on the web trading platform
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DanielaIG,
US and China agree tariff ceasefire; Markets soar - EMEA Brief 3 Dec
GeorgeIG posted a blog entry in Market News,
The US and China have agreed a temporary ceasefire on additional tariffs on each others goods at the G-20 summit in Argentina to allow for trade talks to continue in the new year.
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GeorgeIG,
Trumps G20 summit - APAC brief 3 Dec
MaxIG posted a blog entry in Market News,
Trump’s G20 Summit: Love him or loathe him, Donald Trump seems to be able to get things done. Given he is the most powerful man in the word – at the very least, in a political sense – perhaps this isn’t such a difficult task. When you have the world’s largest economy, coupled with the world’s most potent military at your disposal, one would have all the leverage needed to get their way. But nevertheless, arguably not since Ronald Reagan has global politics experienced such a rapid ideological shift. There were plenty of little-stories, centring around a myriad of economic and political issues, that were played out at the weekend’s G20 summit. The overarching narrative however, at what was possibly the most historically significant G20 meeting since 2009 – when world leaders gathered to discuss the global economy at the depths of the Global Financial Crisis – was about the pitfalls of global trade and migration, and it had President Trump written all over it.
Typical talk-fest: As generally occurs at these talk-fests, this year’s G20 summit was apparently characterized by the typical jostling and lobbying between the many tiers of power. What happens behind closed doors seemingly stays behind closed doors (it’s hardly surprising the masses treat these engagements with cynicism, if not outright paranoia), so it’s difficult to know the depth of discussion shared by world leaders. What we do get though is a nice little communique at the end of it all, summarizing the broad, shared vision of the member countries, with some normative statements articulating how the world ought to approach itself in the future. The short-term financial market implications of this year’s statement will presumably be limited, and more focused on (somewhat improving) US-Sino relations.
Typical talk-fest: As generally occurs at these talk-fests, this year’s G20 summit was apparently characterized by the typical jostling and lobbying between the many tiers of power. What happens behind closed doors seemingly stays behind closed doors (it’s hardly surprising the masses treat these engagements with cynicism, if not outright paranoia), so it’s difficult to know the depth of discussion shared by world leaders. What we do get though is a nice little communique at the end of it all, summarizing the broad, shared vision of the member countries, with some normative statements articulating how the world ought to approach itself in the future. The short-term financial market implications of this year’s statement will presumably be limited, and more focused on (somewhat improving) US-Sino relations.
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MaxIG,
Post in Crude Oil (WTI)
Mercury posted a post in a topic,
"Looks to me like we could be about to get that retrace rally I have been seeking. On the Daily chart price looks to have bounced off long term support, this goes back to a Wave A turn down on the previous LT rally (weekly chart), a typically good support/resistance zone from an EWT perspective. The bearish move down conforms to a 1-5 motive wave (direction of the big picture trend and indicates next move will be counter trend relief rally)."
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JamesIG,
High Stakes at the G20 Summit - EMEA Brief 30 Nov
JoeIG posted a blog entry in Market News,
The G20 summit in Argentina begins today, where discussions around trade, Brexit, and tensions between Russia and Ukraine are expected to be the dominant topics to take centre-stage.
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JamesIG,
Relief rally - APAC Brief 30 Nov
MaxIG posted a blog entry in Market News,
A relief rally, now onto the next risk: The relief rally for market-bulls was sweet, but fleeting: it’s on to the next risk event now. Traders are being inundated by information, much of it speculative. Against this backdrop, volatility reigns: while off its highs still, the VIX is up 2.7 per cent on the day. To be clear, the Fed’s dovishness and Mr. Powell’s-famous-Put is underwriting the potential for future bullishness. But market participants can’t afford to let their guard down in this environment. We have the world’s most powerful politicians converging on Argentina, and with so many fissures running-through global political economy, the number of issues threatening market stability is considerable. One assumes that every generation thinks of themselves as existing at the end of history – reference: we can thank Fukuyama for that notion, perhaps – but it does sometimes feel that with the world-order trembling, we are living through a historical juncture of some description.
Markets want what’s familiar: Markets don’t like this. They desire support and stability and a protection of the status quo. It’s why, in part, seeing the Fed ostensibly step in to support financial markets is so emboldening, and sparks all sorts of bullish impulses. This is especially so within equity markets, which being able to gorge on cheap credit for years, became spoilt and fattened. The fundamentals of the system itself are shaky. Although this ought to be an inherent virtue when it comes to the nature of capitalism – the notion of creative destruction, as economist Joseph Schumpeter expressed it, whereby viable investments prosper, and wasteful inefficiencies are purged – for the better part of a decade, policy makers (rightly or wrongly) have sought to resist this process to maintain a semblance of economic constancy and social confidence.
Markets want what’s familiar: Markets don’t like this. They desire support and stability and a protection of the status quo. It’s why, in part, seeing the Fed ostensibly step in to support financial markets is so emboldening, and sparks all sorts of bullish impulses. This is especially so within equity markets, which being able to gorge on cheap credit for years, became spoilt and fattened. The fundamentals of the system itself are shaky. Although this ought to be an inherent virtue when it comes to the nature of capitalism – the notion of creative destruction, as economist Joseph Schumpeter expressed it, whereby viable investments prosper, and wasteful inefficiencies are purged – for the better part of a decade, policy makers (rightly or wrongly) have sought to resist this process to maintain a semblance of economic constancy and social confidence.
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MaxIG,
Post in Gold & Silver in a LT rally
trade247 posted a post in a topic,
"I'm not sure with gold these days. It seems to be very range bound for months and months, as below. Seem to be a little towards a mid range so no real conviction bid or offer."
Picked By
JamesIG,
LIVE video at 1pm - #IGCommodityChat: Oil
JamesIG posted a blog entry in IG Community Blog,
Continuing our #IGCommodityChat and following our previous chat on gold, join us on Thursday the 29 November at 1pm (UK time) to discuss the future of the oil market with industry advisor Malcolm Graham-Wood and Spencer Welch, director of oil markets at IHS Markit.
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JamesIG,
Wyckoff Logic
Caseynotes posted a topic in General Trading Strategy Discussion,
Wyckoff accumulation - distribution simplified and "four market phases every trader should know".
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JamesIG,
Fed Rate Reveal Promotes Stock Rally - EMEA Brief 29 Nov
MichaelaIG posted a blog entry in Market News,
Fed hints that that future interest rate rises may be lower than anticipated. Whilst Wall Street saw it's 5th biggest daily increase Asian stocks also gained as a result, the Nikkei saw a 0.9% increase whilst SoftBank rose over 3% and Nintendo a further 4%.
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MichaelaIG,
Rate rises slowing - APAC bried 29 Nov
MaxIG posted a blog entry in Market News,
A game of chicken: Did Powell just blink? That’s how last night’s speech from the Fed chair is being interpreted. Debate has raged whether in the face of financial market turmoil, the Fed will be forced to cool its rate-hike rhetoric. Powell’s speech – and this is speculative – may have represented this. Gone was the talk of rates being “a long way” from neutral, and that rates may need to move “past (the) neutral” rate. Instead, it was replaced with the key comment interest rates are “just below” the neutral range, and that future rate hikes, as Fed Vice President Richard Clarida implored yesterday, will be “data dependant”. Perhaps we saw last night, in the tradition of many-a Fed Chair gone before, the latest incarnation of a “Fed-put” – that is, this time around, a “Powell-put”, which will underwrite financial market strength at the first sign of true-trouble.
Rates and bonds: The reactions in financial markets have been predictable, but assertive. US Fed fund futures suggest that traders have heard enough to justify pricing in an 80 per cent chance of a Fed-hike next month. But naturally, the shifting of expectations has been seen in the pricing for rate hikes in 2019. The Fed’s last dot-plots implied 3 hikes for next year – and markets got close to pricing the full three at stages only just over a month ago. We are now seeing just the one, and for some very dovish folk, even that’s too bullish. The short end of the US Treasury curve is manifesting the shift in sentiment: the benchmark 10 Year Treasury note is yielding 3.05 per cent currently, but the yield on interest rate sensitive 2 Year note has fallen back to 2.80 per cent, taking the spread between those two assets back to 25 basis points.
Rates and bonds: The reactions in financial markets have been predictable, but assertive. US Fed fund futures suggest that traders have heard enough to justify pricing in an 80 per cent chance of a Fed-hike next month. But naturally, the shifting of expectations has been seen in the pricing for rate hikes in 2019. The Fed’s last dot-plots implied 3 hikes for next year – and markets got close to pricing the full three at stages only just over a month ago. We are now seeing just the one, and for some very dovish folk, even that’s too bullish. The short end of the US Treasury curve is manifesting the shift in sentiment: the benchmark 10 Year Treasury note is yielding 3.05 per cent currently, but the yield on interest rate sensitive 2 Year note has fallen back to 2.80 per cent, taking the spread between those two assets back to 25 basis points.
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MaxIG,
Crude prices gain: are we close to the bottom? - EMEA Brief 28 Nov
IG-Andi posted a blog entry in Market News,
Asian equities gained as investors weighed in comments from Federal Reserve officials and a possible breakthrough in US-China trade war. Shares in Hong Kong and China led the gains with the Hang Seng Index climbing 0.5% and the Shanghai Composite gaining 0.7%.
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