Forex Fundamental Analysis

Stock markets in Europe and the US ended the week lower, but the Nikkei gained ground in the aftermath of an agreement which saw opposition support to avoid a “fiscal cliff” in return for a snap general election. Get the analysis here.

Figures released from the EU’s statistical office, Eurostat, show that the Eurozone bloc has slipped back into recession. The 17 member group saw its economic activity contract by 0.1% in the third quarter, following on from a contraction of 0.2% in Q2.

The Japanese Prime Minister, Yoshihiko Noda, has announced his intention to call a snap general election – if measures on voting reform and a financial bill gain opposition support.

Japan is the world’s third largest economy and a leading exporting nation to the rest of the world. Given that the world economy is slowing and demand is falling, therefore, it is not surprising that an exporting nation would be suffering.

The U.S. Presidential election is now a mere memory, and there is a near certainty that the U.S. Dollar is likely to continue to depreciate (or at least fail to strengthen) under one of the loosest monetary policy regimes in the developed world.

The Greek parliament endorsed Greece’s fourth austerity package in the last three years when the budget was passed on Sunday.

All of the world’s major stock markets ended the week lower with worries about the weakness of the Eurozone economies and the US fiscal cliff deadline prevailing. See how the markets did with this fundamental analysis to start your week with.

The European Commission (EC) has radically cut back its growth projection for 2013. See how this may affect the FX market here.

America gives the nod to Barak Obama for a further term of four years as President of the USA.

On Friday, unemployment figures for October were released – the last set of significant economic data before the vote. See how the latest NFP may affect the US election.

The major stock markets ended the week mixed with Europe and Asia making ground and US markets falling. Get the full recap here.

The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index for October has come in at its most positive value for almost five (Feb 08) at 72.2, up from 68.4 the previous month. Learn more here.

Portugal became the third Eurozone member state to receive an EU/IMF bailout (worth €78 billion) when its borrowing costs on the money market became unsustainably high in May last year. But it's not over yet.

However, the economic logic of a broadly Federal Europe over the long-run is inescapable. See why here.

Data suggests that the US economy grew by 2% in Q3, a stronger performance than many economic analysts had been predicting. Will this continue?