Month: November 2012

Protests on the streets of Athens deride a deal struck by euro zone finance ministers and the IMF to reduce Greek debt by 40 billion euros but financial markets were cheered. Joel Flynn reports.

By CountingPips.com

The latest Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Monday (due to holiday) by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that large futures speculators raised their overall US dollar bets last week for a 5th straight week and increased their overall long position in the American currency.

Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, raised their total US dollar long position to a total of $11.2 billion on November 20th from a total long position of $4.72 billion on November 13th, according to the CFTC COT data and calculations by Reuters which calculates the dollar positions against the euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc.

Individual Currencies:

EuroFX: Currency speculator sentiment for the euro decreased once again last week for a fifth consecutive week and brought euro positions to their lowest level since early in September. Euro net short positions or bets against the currency rose to 91,400 contracts on November 20th from the previous week’s total of 83,646 net short contracts on November 13th. Euro positions are at their lowest level since September 11th when short positions totaled 93,658 contracts.

The COT report is published every Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and shows futures positions as of the previous Tuesday. It can be a useful tool for traders to gauge investor sentiment and to look for potential changes in the direction of a currency or commodity.

Each currency contract is a quote for that currency directly against the U.S. dollar, a net short amount of contracts means that more speculators are betting that currency to fall against the dollar and a net long position expect that currency to rise versus the dollar.

(The graphs overlay the forex spot closing price of each Tuesday when COT trader positions are reported for each corresponding spot currency pair.)

GBP: British pound sterling positions declined last week for a third straight week and leveled at a virtual neutral position against the US dollar. British pound sterling speculative positions declined to a total of 730 net long contracts on November 20th following a total of 8,228 net long contracts on November 13th. British pound positions have been on the positive side for ten straight weeks after turning bullish on September 11th.

JPY: Japanese yen speculative contracts decreased last week after rebounding the previous week. Japanese yen positions declined to a total of 51,389 net short contracts reported on November 20th following a rise to a total of 30,447 net short contracts on November 13th. The decline in Yen positions has put Yen trader sentiment in the deepest short territory since April 24, 2012 when short positions totaled 55,903 contracts.

CHF: Swiss franc speculator positions fell again last week and fell further on the short side against the dollar. Speculator positions for the Swiss currency futures registered a total of 12,488 net short contracts on November 20th following a total of 8,888 net short contracts as of November 13th. Franc positions are now at their lowest level since September 4th when short positions totaled 13,112 contracts.

CAD: Canadian dollar positions decreased for a ninth consecutive week after reaching a 2012 high level on September 18th. Canadian dollar positions fell to a total of 61,446 net long contracts as of November 20th following a total of 66,119 net long contracts that were reported for November 13th. Before falling the last nine weeks, Canadian dollar positions had risen higher for eight weeks and reached the highest level in over two years on Sept 18th.

AUD: The Australian dollar positions dipped last week after advancing for four straight weeks. Aussie speculative futures positions declined to a total net amount of 64,711 long contracts on November 20th after totaling 68,146 net long contracts as of November 13th.

NZD: New Zealand dollar speculator positions dipped last week for a second straight week. NZD contracts edged lower to a total of 17,858 net long contracts as of November 20th following a total of 19,194 net long contracts on November 13th.

MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts decreased again last week to fall for a sixth straight week. Peso positions fell to a total of 86,787 net long speculative positions as of November 20th following a total of 96,994 long contracts that were reported for November 13th. Peso contracts are at their lowest level since August 14th when long positions totaled 83,511 contracts.

Article by CountingPips.com

Stocks had a tough time moving in any direction today as budget talks that fueled last weeks rally, lost steam. Also worrying investors was a ho hum start to the holiday shopping season.

Sandisk (SNDK) was initiated by Credit Suisse (CS) with an outperform rating with a price target of $50, as strong demand growth is expected in 2013. Shares are higher by about one percent.

DSW (DSW) was upgraded by Keybanc (KEY) to buy from hold with a price target of $81, as the company has been opening more stores that should add to its bottom line. Shares are higher by about four tenths of a percent.

HCC Insurance Holdings (HCC) maintained its quarterly dividend of 16.5 cents per share. The dividend is payable to stockholders of record on January 2, 2013 and will be paid on or about January 16, 2013.

As the saying goes, there are many possible reasons for an insider to sell a stock, but only one reason to buy — they expect to make money. So let’s look at two noteworthy recent insider buys.

In trading on Monday, trucking shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 1.8%. Leading the group were shares of Arkansas Best (ABFS), up about 7.7% and shares of Yrc Worldwide (YRCW) up about 4.3% on the day.

The first trading day of the trading week will have investors analyzing retail sales data as the holiday shopping season kicks off. Good morning, this is Kristin Bianco with the Week Ahead Market Report for November 26, 2012.

This forty seventh trading week of 2012 comes to a close with investors keeping a close eye on retailers as the holiday shopping season kicks off. Hi.