MORNING BRIEFING: Beige Book shows some districts slowing economy

[RTFX-Trading]

MORNING BRIEFING: Beige Book shows some districts slowing economy

What’s new:
United States: Financial state of emergency in California
United States: Beige book report shows some districts slowing economy
Euro zone: Tougher lending rules for banks from ECB
United Kingdom: No tacit agreement to keep low rate
China: IMF board split on China’s exchange rate debate
Japan: BOJ’s Kamezaki says won’t base policy on forex
New Zealand: RBNZ raises interest rates by 25bps to 3.00%

Today:


Rates in Asia and Indices:
EURUSD: 1.3045 - 1.2978.
USDCHF: 1.0581 - 1.0517.
GBPUSD: 1.5631- 1.5584.
EURJPY: 113.97 – 113.18.
USDJPY: 87.52 – 87.10.
DowJones: 10'497.88 -0.38%
NASDAQ: 2'264.56 -1.04%
S & P 500: 1'106.13 -0.69%
Nikkei: 9'696.02 -0.59%
Shanghai: 2'648.60 +0.57%
Gold: $ 1'167.20    
Crude Oil: $ 77.22

Comments:

In an interview, British finance minister George Osborne declared ‘There is no tacit agreement with Bank of England Governor Mervyn King on keeping interets rates low. He is absolutely independent, as is his Monetary Policy Committee.'

New Zealand’s Central bank lifted interest rates by 25bps to 3.0%, but scaled back its plans for further move. The New Zealand Dollar fell sharply after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand signalled the pace of further interest rate hikes would be less than earlier thought. The kiwi fell to a low near $0.7202, from about $0.7287 before the announcement.

The Beige Book, released yesterday at 2000 CET, reports on conditions in all 12 districts that are part of the Federal Reserve system. The report, based on information before July 19, said activity "continued to increase, on balance" though Cleveland and Kansas City said business held steady. "Among those districts reporting improvements in economic activity, a number of them noted that the increases were modest, and two districts, Atlanta and Chicago, said the pace of economic activity had slowed recently," the Fed said.

The Euro is still hovering near an 11-week high against the US Dollar reached earlier this week. EURUSD is up to 1.3045 today, just shy of the recent high reached 27th of July. Against the Yen, the single currency dipped on high selling by Japanese exporters. Traders are expecting more offers to emerge if the Euro rises to above 115 Yen.

Have a nice day

Emman Xuereb
Trading Desk
RTFX Ltd
Risk Disclaimer