Forex Fundamental Analysis

To the great surprise of nobody, the first Democratic Party nominee for the post of Chairman of the Federal Reserve since Paul Volcke left the office back in 1987 has been confirmed by the Senate.

2013 was a good year for Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index which saw it put on more than 50% of its value.

Last week’s trading was on a low volume as many traders enjoyed the full extent of the festive period. With the exception of Japan’s Nikkei, all of the markets closed down.

According to one of the UK’s major building societies (mortgage lenders), the price of the average UK home rose by 8.4% over the year, taking it to £175826

The effects of the Global Financial Crisis in Europe were exacerbated by the European Sovereign Debt Crisis which itself was triggered by Greece fudging its books when joining the Euro in the first wave.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is often regarded as the “bosses union” and not commonly regarded as the champion of the worker – it more has the persona of Charles Dickens’ Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol”.

Last week’s trading session marked the end of the week, the month, the quarter and the whole of 2013 from the perspective of these pieces – time to see how we did.

With the end of 2013 comes the final set of quarterly figures for growth, or otherwise, in the world’s economies.

The business community in China has become increasingly concerned recently about a potential credit squeeze in China.

Last week’s trading saw all of the major markets making ground on better economic news and optimism over the coming year.

Employment is a lagging indicator of the economic cycle and tends to pick-up only once employers are convinced that demand for their goods and services has increased.

The Federal Reserve has announced that it will start to withdraw its stimulus measures from January. The asset purchase scheme which sees the Federal Reserve commissioning the purchase of $85 billion worth of securities each month will be dialled back by $10 billion per month.

Australia was the only major economy to come through the Global Financial Crisis without going into recession, but that did not mean that the pain of the crisis was not felt by Australians.

The Bank of Japan commission’s four business surveys each year, known as Tankan surveys. The details of the latest Tankan survey show that business confidence is at its highest level in six years.

Last week’s trading saw all of the major markets fall with the exception of Japan’s Nikkei.