Forex Fundamental Analysis

Japanese voters will be going to the polls on 16th December. The ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) came to power three years ago on the trendy mandate of change, ending nearly 50 years of one-party rule under the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Last week the second estimate for third quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the US was published. For a good few months now, it seemed like the US was on the right track to recovery from the last recession.

Last Friday marked the end of the month’s trading for November. All of the world’s major markets ended the week up. Get the fundamental review here.

The IMF has made it clear that its contribution to the funding will be contingent on the success of the buy-back which they see as an essential component of the strategy to get Greece’s debt back under control. Learn more here.

Sales over the weekend were stronger than over the comparable period in 2011 by a healthy 13% according to the National Retail Federation. See how this will affect the market here.

The US Treasury department makes two annual assessments of the relative value of the Chinese currency, the Yuan, against the US Dollar.

The common currency Euro was affected to its greatest extent this past week by concerns that the Eurozone’s policymakers would not release the next bailout payment that was needed to keep the Greek government afloat for a little while longer.

The Eurogroup of finance ministers have agreed terms for the release of the next tranche of funding to Greece under the nation’s two IMF/EU bailout accords during their third meeting on the subject. The full story is here.

In light of the expected elections in Japan in December, we thought it would be beneficial to revisit the consequences of a possible change to the country’s inflation policy. Get the fundamental analysis here.

All of the world’s major markets ended the week up strongly, despite the fact that Greece is still waiting for a decision on its bailout and the EU could not come to consensus over the EU budget demands set by the Commission. Get the fundamental analysis here.

Strictly speaking, the latest Markit Eurozone Purchasing Manager’s Output index shows that output within the bloc showed a contraction with the index slipping from 45.8 to 45.7 for October, but it is kinder and more upbeat to regard it as a stagnation when compared to the previous survey.

Figures just released show that Japan’s exports to the rest of the world have fallen for a fifth consecutive month. See what this means for the Yen here.

EU finance ministers were unable to seal a deal on the release of the next tranche of EU/IMF bailout funding, despite 12 hours of discussions in Brussels yesterday. The finance ministers still have some technical details to iron out and will reconvene on Monday.

After a week fraught with uncertainty – will Greece got their desperately needed money or won’t they? – the answer investors have been waiting for appears to be a firm maybe.

The role of the credit ratings agencies is to provide investors with a realistic evaluation of the risk of their getting their fingers burned if they invest in a specific debt vehicle; be it a sovereign debt vehicle or a commercial one.