Over the last few months, investors have becoming increasingly skeptical about the long term health of the world’s two major currencies, the dollar and the euro. Debt worries are plaguing each and forcing many to reconsider the wisdom of holding onto assets denominated in these two sinking ships. As a result, many have sought refuge in alternative currencies, the most popular of which being the Swiss franc. Yet, with last week’s historic decision to peg the franc to the quickly-crashing euro, investors have been forced to head for the exits in this key currency or be sucked into the quicksand of the euro zone as well. [click to continue…]
Equity indexes crept up higher since the opening bell at the start of last week, although a grim jobs report on Friday quickly sparked a sell-off, with domestic equities broadly finishing in red territory for the week. The S&P 500 is now back below our outlined support at 1,200 and we advise stepping to the [...]
The Wall Street roller coaster doesn’t seem to be running out of fuel as stocks endured yet another wild week. Investors remain very fearful of an impending “double dip”, while the deteriorating financial health of the Euro zone is putting additional downward pressure on global equity markets. Uncertainty continues to pave the way higher for [...]
It’s been a fairly tame week on Wall Street thus far, with investors keeping quiet as no significant economic data has been released. Positive GDP data from Japan pushed markets higher at the start of the week, although equity indexes were quick to give up gains on both Tuesday and Wednesday around noon time. The [...]
Fear ran wild across every corner of the financial markets last week and nearly every asset class fell victim to brutally volatile trading. Friday was the only day during which the Dow Jones Industrial Average did not swing by more than 400 points, managing to regain some of the losses on Thursday and Friday and [...]
Wall Street plunged into the abyss last week as investors prepared for the worst after the ECB and Bank of Japan intervened in the markets, sending widespread waves of fear, and inducing one of the worst sell-offs that the market has seen since the dismal days of 2008. Domestic equity indexes fell over 4% on [...]
Investors went along for a downhill ride last week as debt woes plagued Wall Street, sending the S&P 500 lower by nearly 4% for the week. Corporate earnings were mostly surprises to the upside, but equities failed to stage a meaningful comeback since investors were more concerned with the debt ceiling drama at home. As [...]
Most investors probably never expected that it would never come to this. With only days remaining until the day the government coffers supposedly go dry, a deal to avoid a default remains elusive (one would suspect the August 2 date is at least 72 hours or so in advance of a hard deadline). The back [...]
Wall Street continued its decline into Wednesday as investors took profits in nearly every asset class, with U.S. treasuries being one of the few gainers during the day. Investors also digested the most recent ADP employment report which showed that fewer than expected private-sector jobs were added in April, leading to further questions about the [...]
With U.S. markets closed on Monday for Independence Day, investors will have a lot to digest when the opening bell rings on Tuesday. As usual, performance in Europe and Asia will set the tone; today, all eyes will be on the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Glenn Stevens, as the interest rate decision [...]
Equity markets finished sharply lower last week as investors sold off virtually every asset class and the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both lost more than 5%. Commodity markets also suffered as gold and oil fell dramatically while the euro strengthened. U.S. markets remained bogged down due to poor data reports on both the employment [...]
Earlier today, Eric Dutram, Analyst and Head of Editorial at ETF Database, was on BNN discussing ETFs that could be new safe havens in the current market environment. Now that investors can no longer rely on the Swiss franc, many have been scrambling to find new places to stash cash and could take a look at currency ETFs such as those tracking the Chinese yuan, Australian dollar, and Swedish krona instead. In the interview, Eric gave his outlook for the Chinese yuan and why he is bullish going forward, highlighting how high inflation could actually be good for the currency. Additionally, Eric discussed why investors could see benefits from some exposure to Australia and Sweden as well, and why these economies could hold up better than most. [click to continue…]
