Month: January 2013

Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem has been elected as the new head of the Euro Group replacing Jean-Claude Juncker after 7 years in the job. Hayley Platt reports.

By CountingPips.com

The latest Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that large futures speculators added to their overall short position against the US dollar last week after trimming short positions slightly the previous week.

Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, registered a US dollar short position total of $12.897 billion on January 15th after totaling a short position of $6.96 billion on January 8th, 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.

US dollar overall short positions are now at their highest level since October 2nd 2012 when total short positions registered $16.31 billion.

Individual Currencies Large Speculators Positions:

EuroFX: Currency speculator sentiment for the euro rose last week to bring euro contracts over to a long position for a second time in three weeks and to its best level since July 2011. Euro positions increased on January 15th to a long position of 7,315 contracts after the previous week’s total of 8,035 net short contracts. Euro positions are now at their best level since July 26th 2011 when long positions equaled 17,038 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 increased last week after falling for two straight weeks. British pound speculative positions advanced to a total of 28,338 net long contracts on January 15th following a total of 25,949 net long contracts on January 8th. Pound sterling positions had reached their highest level of 2012 on December 24th when contracts equaled 37,321.

JPY: Japanese yen speculative contracts improved last week for a fifth consecutive week after falling to the lowest level in years on December 11th. Japanese yen positions, although still in a bearish position, improved to a total of 65,727 net short contracts reported on January 15th following a total of 74,096 net short contracts on January 8th. This is the fifth week of improvement after falling to a level of 94,401 short positions on December 11th.

CHF: Swiss franc speculator positions rose last week after dipping just slightly the previous week. Speculator positions for the Swiss currency futures registered a total of 12,770 net long contracts on January 15th following a total of 10,261 net long contracts as of January 8th. Swiss franc large speculator positions are now at their highest level since June 14, 2011 when net long positions equaled 13,287 contracts.

CAD: Canadian dollar positions rose slightly last week after a small decrease the previous week. Canadian dollar positions edged higher to a total of 68,668 net long contracts as of January 15th following a total of 64,005 net long contracts that were reported for January 8th.

AUD: The Australian dollar positions increased last week to advance for a third consecutive week. Aussie speculative futures positions rose to a total net amount of 89,057 long contracts on January 15th after totaling 80,315 net long contracts as of January 8th. Australian dollar contracts continue to be at a large bullish level against the US dollar and recently reached the highest level of the 2012 year on December 11th with 103,376 long contracts.

NZD: New Zealand dollar speculator positions advanced higher last week to increase for a fourth consecutive week. NZD contracts rose to a total of 22,262 net long contracts as of January 15th following a total of 19,220 net long contracts on January 8th. The New Zealand dollar speculator positions are approaching the 2012 high level that was reached on December 11th with a total of 24,600 contracts.

MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts advanced higher last week following two consecutive weekly declines. Peso positions rose to a total of 151,665 net long speculative positions as of January 15th following a total of 139,523 long contracts that were reported for January 8th. Peso positions are at their highest level since at least 2009 and surpassed the highest level of 2012 which recorded 149,355 long contracts on December 24th.

Article by CountingPips.com – Forex News & Market Analysis

This third trading week of 2013 comes to a close with investors digesting news that House Republicans plan to vote next week on a temporary increase in the debt-limit. Hi.

Expeditors (EXPD) was upgraded by Credit Suisse (CS) to outperform from neutral with a price target of $50 due to an improving macro environment. Shares are lower by about four tenths of a percent.

Tyson Foods (TSN) was upgraded by BMO Capital Markets (BMO) from market perform to outperform with a price target of $27 due to structural changes in the beef business. Shares are higher by about 3.3 percent.

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 Friday, metals & mining shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 0.8%. Leading the group were shares of HI Crush Partners Limited (HCLP), up about 5.2% and shares of James River Coal (JRCC) up about 4.5% on the day.

General Electric (GE) announced that earnings in the fourth quarter increased to $4.01 billion, or 38 cents per share, from $3.73 billion, or 35 cents per share, in the same period last year. Revenue increased by 3.6 percent to $39.33 billion from $37.97 billion in the same period last year, while analysts had expected revenue of $38.76 billion.

Greece’s parliament votes to probe former Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou for his role in a scandal over a list of potential tax evaders that has rattled the fragile ruling coalition. Ciara Sutton reports.

El Paso Pipeline (EPB) had its numbers increased by UBS (UBS) as recent cost cuts should add to earnings. A buy rating was issued with a $42 price target.