Forex Fundamental Analysis

Every day brings new crises in the financial world. Scandals, government intervention, recessions, price manipulations. Journalists have their hands full reporting about currency collapses, oil embargos and stock IPOs.

Japanese PM Shinzo Abe has made restoring the Japanese economy to significant growth and the ending of a 20 year run of deflation the priorities of his administration.

The Shanghai-Hong Kong stock connect got under way on Monday, November 17th. This new financial endeavor allows foreign investors to directly purchase individual shares of 560 Chinese mainland stocks.

Last week was largely positive for the major markets with only Germany’s Dax losing ground. Get the analysis for November 17, 2014 here.

They say beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. And what could be more beautiful than bullions of pure gold? Gold has always held a special allure for jewelry lovers. But it has also been a key investment commodity. Gold has been regarded as a crisis hedge, a currency hedge, an inflation hedge and a deflation hedge.

For the first time in five years, UK workers on average wages found that their pay increase was actually marginally above the consumer price inflation figure.

It is a sign of the times that nobody reading this article will be shocked to learn of wrong-doing by major banks, nor that five major international banks have been fined a total of £2 billion for their parts in the shenanigans.

For the public, the most distasteful aspect of the Global Financial Crisis was that tax payers around the world had to foot the bill for shoring-up financial institutions that had gambled big and lost.

Last week saw the release of US unemployment data for the month of October and revision (based on more complete data) of the figures for August and September which showed that unemployment had been marginally overstated.

Last week was another mixed affair for the world’s major stock markets with some closing up, some down and some essentially unchanged. Get the Forex week in review for November 10, 2014 here.

Recently confirmed as President as the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker was formerly prime minister of Luxemburg.

Those with long memories will recall that the Global Financial Crisis started with a Republican in the White House.

The latest Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for manufacturing in the bloc of 18 nations using the Euro, has shown that the rate of growth has picked up slightly.

Japan’s economy remains the third largest in the world, but it is dogged by two decades of deflation and lacklustre economic growth.

Friday marked the final trading session for October and saw all of the major markets close higher on the strength of the ending of the Federal Reserve’s QE measures and fresh stimulus efforts from the Bank of Japan.