Forex Fundamental Analysis

By most standards, China has managed impressive growth in the face of the Global Financial Crisis and its aftermath, but by the standards of its recent historic growth, the economy has slowed in the face of weaker global demand for Chinese products.

No matter how sophisticated your technical trading strategy or in-depth your fundamental analysis data is, investing in Forex or stocks is, in essence, gambling.

Figures released for Japanese factory output in February show that it unexpectedly fell back by 2.3% on January’s output.

Friday marked the final trading session for March for these summaries and it was another mixed affair for the world’s major stock markets.

If there is one thing that consumers do not like, it is rising prices for goods and services. Many people find that their income fails to rise at the same rate as inflation and consequently their disposable incomes and standard of living decline.

Ukraine’s financial situation is quite desperate and it is very unlikely, given the current geopolitical situation, that it could turn to its traditional ally, Russia, for support.

Before the Global Financial Crisis struck in 2008, all the talk was of the emergence of new economic superpowers, the BRICS group: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

France has the second largest economy within the Eurozone, behind Germany, but whilst the German economy has recovered strongly (in relative terms) the French economy spent much of 2013 going backwards.

With the exception of Japan’s Nikkei, the world’s major markets ended higher, shaking of geopolitical fears as the Russian annexation of Crimea seems to be (largely) bloodless and negative sentiment at the latest “Taper” eased by the end of the week.

New Zealand is usually in the news for the sporting prowess of its rugby players and cricketers and for its tectonic susceptibility as an island on the Pacific Rim of Fire.

The reduction in US asset purchases caused global markets to wobble lower (it can hardly have come as a shock to any literate investor) and push the Dollar higher.

The trade deficit is simply the (negative) difference between the value of goods that a nation exports to the rest of the world minus its imports.

The LIBOR scandal continues to refuse to go away. LIBOR stands for the London Interbank Offered Rate and essentially it is a mechanism to set interest rates based on the rates which banks themselves are lending money to one another.

All of the major markets lost ground on fears of the geopolitical crisis in Ukraine and weaker data from the Chinese economy.

Consumer spending is the engine that powers any economy. It is estimated that something like 70% of US output is consumed in the domestic market, so consumer sentiment and spending is critical to the fortunes of the economy.