Forex Fundamental Analysis

By any standards, growth of 6.7% seen in the Chinese economy represents an astonishing level for any major economy and contrasts with the modest growth seen in Japan, the USA and the Eurozone.

For all those skeptics who rushed to take their money out of the stock markets and into other investment vehicles over the last 18 months, here’s some good news: The Dow Jones Index closed above 18,000 on Monday for the first time since July 2015.

With the failure of the OPEC countries to come to an agreement over the weekend, oil is set for a long and deep decline, in my view. The supply/demand factors that are supporting it are not enough, in my view, to keep it at current levels for any length of time.

You could be forgiven for believing that campaigning for the UK to stay in the EU or turn its back on the bloc has been underway since the conclusion of last year’s general election, however, it officially began on Friday and runs for 10 weeks.

Financial leaders from the Group of 20 nations met last week in an effort to review the state of the global economy and make appropriate recommendations for future growth. The meeting ended with only slight optimism.

Last week was a positive affair for the world’s major markets – for once - with all of the majors making gains. The oil price strengthened further.

The recent journalistic scoop on the dealings of Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca and its clientele continues to cause reverberations around the world and has catalysed public anger on the excesses of some of the wealthiest people in the world and their efforts to hide their riches (ill-gotten or otherwise) from the tax man.

To prevent the financial Armageddon, public money was ploughed into such failing Goliaths in the depths of the financial maelstrom to prop them up. Needless to say, bailing out greedy bankers from the public coffers proved to be universally unpopular with the public and the stable door needed to be firmly shut.

If you thought the Panama Papers saga has petered out, think again. The ramifications of these documents continue to reverberate across the globe—and even in its own backyard.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has now weighed into the debate albeit without much factual evidence, coming down strongly on the side of those wishing to remain.

The EC is already engaged in examining whether so-called “sweetheart” deals between some EU member states (including Luxembourg, Holland and Ireland) and corporations trading within the EU breach EU rules.

Last week was a negative affair for the world’s major markets, with only the FTSE making any gains.

The Yen has risen to an 18-month high against the US Dollar and stands at about 108.7 Yen, having started 2016 worth 120.6.

The latest leak to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), referred to as the Panama Papers, reveals that a single law firm, Mossack Fonseca, facilitated the creation of more than 200,000 offshore entities.

A 2015 Dutch initiative to boost democracy allowed for the calling of a non-binding referendum on an issue if activists could amass at least 300000 petitioners, the law relates to most law and treaties.