Forex Fundamental Analysis

Last week saw all of the major stock exchanges close higher, with the exception of the Nikkei. Get the analysis for the week of February 9, 2015 here.

The creditors in the Eurozone, consisting mainly of North-western European members, are concerned that Greece won’t fully redeem its debt. Will the new government, besides reversing the austerity and economic reform programmes, also be able to reverse the Greek culture of tax evasion and corruption?

After a short blip last week, the U.S. dollar has bounced back and continues to hold its own.

It is still less than two weeks since the left-wing, anti-austerity Syriza party took power in Greece’s general election.

Central Banks are never idle. But when more than one makes a surprise move, it can send financial markets rocking. And that is exactly what happened last month. The biggie was Switzerland's unanticipated decision to drop its three-year-old cap on the franc.

The role of a ratings agency is to make an impartial assessment of the risk to an investor of backing a particular debt vehicle with AAA ratings indicating the safest bets; on down to junk status for riskier propositions.

The strength of the U.S. dollar seems to be wavering. Tuesday saw the worst day for the dollar against major currencies since October 2013.

With bank rates in Europe, Japan and the USA at, or barely above zero, it is easy to forget that some economies are running interest rates which resemble normalcy.

Initial data, subject to review as more comprehensive information feeds through, suggests that the US economy grew by 2.6%.

January was a month that saw surprise changes in fiscal policy across the globe. Several central banks including Denmark, India and Singapore enacted loosening measures against a backdrop of increasing deflationary pressures as crude oil prices continue to drop.

Last week was dominated by the election of a left-wing anti-austerity government in Greece and speculation over its continued membership of the Euro in light of their public promises to abandon austerity and seek a write-off of half of the EU/IMF bailout debt.

Stock prices in the U.S. energy sector are already showing pressure into 2015, and there could be more bad news to come when several key players report their fourth-quarter results next week.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody that prices in the Eurozone continued to fall in December.

Just four short days have passed since Greek politics experienced a tectonic shift to the left.

Beauty, it is said, is in the eye of the beholder. The same principle seems to hold to the interpretation of economic data by politicians – and never more so than in an election year.