Author: FX_Trdr

Though the Social Security Administration is still reviewing the law, it is encouraging applications for spousal benefits from couples in same-sex marriages and civil unions.

As the White House and Congress careen toward another fiscal showdown, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office warned that President Obama and lawmakers have been cutting the wrong kind of federal spending as they try to avoid unsustainable levels of debt in coming decades.

Microsoft said it will deliver a quarterly dividend of 28 cents a share, up 5 cents from before. The company also said it has authorized another $40 billion to buy its own shares as it throws investors some cash ahead of its financial analyst meeting. The move may serve as balm for shareholders who are questioning the Nokia purchase as well as Microsoft’s ability to innovate.

An uneven recovery, and consumers who are still struggling with a little too much debt and weak income growth will lead to higher volatility going forward, says Russ Koesterich, chief investment strategist at Blackrock.

By CountingPips.com

The US dollar lost ground across the board against the other major currencies last week as the American currency fell for the week against the euro, Swiss franc, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, British pound sterling and the New Zealand dollar.

This coming week is all about the US Federal Reserve Committee and whether they will scale back or “taper” their $85 billion a month (QE3) bond buying stimulus program. The FOMC committee interest rate decision takes place on Wednesday afternoon and the market is largely expecting the Fed to make some kind of reduction in the the stimulus program. A recent poll by Bloomberg News showed that economists were expecting for the stimulus to be scaled back to $75 billion a month.

The market reaction (and US Dollar trading action) will likely depend, first of all on if there is reduction, the size of the reduction and finally the comments and guidance from Chairman Ben Bernanke following the committee announcement.

In addition to the US Fed news this week, there is also major economic news on the Monday schedule with the release of the Euro Zone consumer price index. Tuesday’s schedule has the United Kingdom and the United States consumer price index releases. Wednesday is headlined by the US Fed announcement and has the New Zealand GDP report release. Thursday holds the Switzerland interest rate decision, United Kingdom retail sales and the US weekly jobless claims while Friday has the Canadian consumer price index and euro zone consumer confidence releases.

Please See the week’s highlighted economic events below:

This Week’s Economic Highlights:

Sunday, September 15

China — foreign direct investment
New Zealand — Westpac consumer confidence
New Zealand — services index

Monday, September 16

Euro zone — consumer price index
United States — industrial production
United States — manufacturing production

Tuesday, September 17

Australia — RBA meeting minutes
United Kingdom — producer prices
United Kingdom — consumer price index
euro zone — Germany ZEW survey
United States — consumer price index
United States — long-term TIC flows
United States — nahb housing market Index

Wednesday, September 18

Australia — conference Board leading index
United Kingdom — bank of England minutes
Switzerland — ZEW survey
United States — housing starts/building permits
United States — Federal Reserve interest rate decision
United States — Federal Reserve comments on buying program
New Zealand — GDP report
Japan — merchandise trade balance

Thursday, September 19

Japan — leading index
Switzerland — trade balance
Switzerland — interest rate decision
United Kingdom — retail sales
United States — weekly jobless claims
United States — leading indicators
United States — Philadelphia Federal Reserve survey
Japan — foreign bonds/foreign stocks buying

Friday, September 20

Canada — consumer price index
euro zone — consumer confidence

Article by CountingPips.com – Forex Blog

By rolling out television, print and billboard marketing campaigns, Zurich Insurance is aiming to advertise business as usual after a suicide and resignation in the Swiss insurer’s top ranks.As a December 5 deadline creeps closer for updating investors on targets the company will likely miss, the spotlight is on how CEO Martin Senn will pilot the company after the suicide of its finance chief Pierre Wauthier last month and the subsequent resignation of its chairman Josef Ackermann days later.

By CountingPips.com

The weekly Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that large futures traders and currency speculators continued to add to their bullish bets of the US dollar last week for a third consecutive week.

Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large International Monetary Market speculators, increased their overall US dollar long positions to a total of $22.01 billion as of Tuesday September 10th. This was a rise of $1.93 billion from the total long position of $20.08 billion that was registered on September 3rd, according to data from Reuters that calculates this amount by the total of US dollar contracts against the combined contracts of the euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc.

US dollar overall long positions are now at their highest level since July 30th when long bets registered a total of $24.45 billion.

COT explanation: The weekly cot report summarizes the total trader positions for open contracts in the futures trading markets. The CFTC categorizes trader positions according to commercial hedgers (traders who use futures contracts for hedging as part of the business), non-commercials (large traders who speculate to realize trading profits) and non-reportable traders (usually small traders/speculators).

Individual Currencies Large Speculators Positions in Futures:

The large non-commercial net positions for each of the individual major currencies directly against the US dollar last week saw weekly increases for the British pound sterling, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar and the Mexican peso while the euro, Swiss franc and the Japanese yen all had declining numbers of large speculator positions for the week.

Individual Currency Charts:

EuroFX:

Last Six Weeks of Large Trader Positions: EuroFX

British Pound Sterling:

Last Six Weeks of Large Trader Positions: Pound Sterling

Japanese Yen:

Last Six Weeks of Large Trader Positions: Yen

Swiss Franc:

Last Six Weeks of Large Trader Positions: Franc

Canadian Dollar:

Last Six Weeks of Large Trader Positions: CAD

Australian Dollar:

Last Six Weeks of Large Trader Positions: AUD

New Zealand Dollar:

Last Six Weeks of Large Trader Positions: NZD

Mexican Peso:

Last Six Weeks of Large Trader Positions: MXN

The Commitment of Traders report is published every Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and shows futures positions data that was reported as of the previous Tuesday (3 days behind).

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.)

See more information and explanation on the weekly COT report from the CFTC website.

Article by CountingPips.com

By CountingPips.com

Weekly CFTC Net Speculator Report

10 Year Treasuries: Large trader and futures market speculators decreased their overall bearish positions last week in the 10-year treasury notes for a second consecutive week. The 10-year treasury non-commercial contracts totaled a net position of -85,324 contracts in the data reported for September 10th. This was a change of +17,770 contracts from the previous week’s total of -103,094 net contracts on September 3rd.

In the same time-frame, the yield on the 10 Year treasury note rose from 2.86 on Tuesday September 3rd to 2.96 on Tuesday September 10th, according to US Treasury data.

Last 6 Weeks of Large Trader Positions

*COT explanation: The weekly cot report summarizes the total trader positions for open contracts in the futures trading markets. The CFTC categorizes trader positions according to commercial hedgers (traders who use futures contracts for hedging as part of the business), non-commercials (large traders who speculate to realize trading profits) and nonreportable traders (usually small traders/speculators).

Article by CountingPips.com – Forex News & Market Analysis

The European Commission rebuffed an EU legal opinion that questioned the legality of a planned financial transaction tax and said work on the levy in 11 European Union countries would go on. The legal services of the European Council, the institution which represents governments of the 28-nation EU, said in their 14-page legal opinion dated September 6 that the Commission’s transaction tax plan “exceeded member states’ jurisdiction for taxation under the norms of international customary law”.

The announcement came in a press release Friday that outlined the radio company’s projected finances for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1.