Market News

Now that concerns over the potential currency war spurred on by China’s intervention in the Yuan have subsided, the markets’ focus has turned primarily to the US Federal Reserve Bank.

Eurozone finance ministers gave the green light to an 85 billion euro bailout for Greece on Friday, an indication interpreted by some lawmakers as a definite sign that Greece is interested in remaining a member of the euro area.

Last week was surprisingly eventful, but this coming week should be more eventful still as we have a few very important events scheduled for the U.S. Dollar, Japanese Yen, and Australian Dollar.

Greece is back on the roller coaster ride. After agreeing at the beginning of the month to the terms of the bailout programs with the leaders of the Eurozone group, all team players are back to the bargaining table.

The US Dollar Index edged away from a 1-month trough after the Chinese government alleviated investors’ concerns that a currency war was brewing.

What a difference a day makes. Just last week, it seemed certain that after months of speculation, the Federal Reserve would introduce an interest rate increase by September at the latest. But the U.S. doesn’t exist in a vacuum and world events have changed and a rate increase now seems in doubt.

As the Chinese Yuan continues to be devalued by the People’s Bank of China that has raised speculation that the Federal Reserve might now have to postpone a rate hike.

Just when it looked like the price of oil couldn’t drop even further, it just keeps barreling down. Crude closed at the lowest level in more than six years Tuesday on news from China and the Middle East.

Greece and her creditors have finally agreed a comprehensive deal on the terms for a widely-anticipated third bailout package, although there are apparently one or two minor terms that are still to be agreed.

In the wake of the surprise move from the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), higher-risk currencies such as the Euro received an unexpected boost. Analysts say that investors could see the PBOC move as the trigger for a currency war which could benefit Gold in the short term.

China’s problems continue to mount and each day brings news of additional changes from within the world’s second largest economy.

Last Friday’s release of private sector labor data from the US fell slightly short of expectations. However, those figures were still high enough to reinforce speculation that the Federal Reserve Bank is on track to raise lending rates, possibly as soon as next month.

Economies across the globe seem to be recovering albeit slowly. Japan as well is moving along moderately with financial numbers rising beyond expectations at the end of the 2nd quarter.

This is probably going to be an extremely quiet week, for two main reasons: we are approaching the middle of August, when the market is typically pretty dead, and there is also no central bank data due this week anywhere.

August is rolling along and the question of a September interest hike still looms ahead. The numbers continue to point to a Fed hike as a real possibility.