In the past week, the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has dropped sharply. The chart below shows the performance of the biggest cryptocurrencies. In the drop, the total market capitalization of crypto declined by more than $100 billion. Today, the combined market value of cryptocurrencies stands at more than $136 billion. This is an […]
A few weeks ago, the European Commission released a report on GDP guidance for the coming year. The report said that the region’s economy will ease from a ten-year high of 2.4% in 2017 to 2.1% in 2018. In 2019 and 2020, the GDP will ease further to 1.9% and 1.7% respectively. The report said […]
Soybeans has been at the forefront of the ongoing trade conflict between the United States and China. The US is the biggest soybeans exporter in the world, exporting more than $108 million metric tonnes of the commodity. It is followed by Argentina and Brazil, which export 86 million and 53 million tonnes annually. China on […]
Crispus Nyaga Natural gas has been having a great year. Its price has risen by more than 50% this year as demand rises. In the United States, the total demand for the commodity is up 14% y-o-y to 96.4 bcf per day. At the same time, the supply too is up by 12.0% y-o-y to […]
The price of crude oil has been in free fall since October. The price of Brent has dropped from a YTD high of $86 to a YTD low of $58.6. This decline has been caused by a number of factors. First, the impacts of the Iran’s exit to the oil market have been limited. This […]
The biggest focus among investors this week will be on the G20 meeting, which will take place in Argentina. While the expectations for this week’s meeting are low, investors will pay close attention to them. This is because of a meeting that will take place between Donald Trump and his counterpart, Xi Jinping. Investors hope […]
In the past two weeks, investors have been paying close attention to the United Kingdom. This is after the UK and the EU reached a preliminary agreement on Brexit. This came after a prolonged period of negotiations between the two parties. After the deal was announced, May’s cabinet saw a number of resignations including that […]
A few months ago, Turkey was in trouble. The country had just gotten into a conflict with the United States, a fellow NATO member. The conflict was mostly because of the country’s jailing of an American pastor. This led to a sharp decline in the Turkish Lira. Things were compounded with the increased Turkish debt […]
The ongoing volatility in the world’s stock market has led to an opening in safe havens. Bonds have risen as traders move to safety. The same is true with gold, Swiss Franc, the US dollar, and the Japanese Yen. In the past week, gold has had six consecutive days of gains. As this has happened, […]
In the investment world, confidence is one of the most important aspects. It is confidence that makes people invest in small unprofitable companies with the hopes that they will improve. It is also confidence that makes investors like Warren Buffet buy and hold stocks for years. They believe in the company’s products and the management. […]
Last week, the uncertainty about Brexit was the biggest news. This is after the cabinet endorsed the new draft. The decision led to the prompt resignations of key ministers, including Dominic Raab, the Brexit minister who had an important role in the negotiations. This week, the following may be the biggest movers. Brexit This week, […]
Yesterday, sterling had the worst day since the day the UK voted to leave the United Kingdom. It dropped by more than 2% after the resignation of the Brexit minister, Dominic Raaab. His resignation was followed by that of two other members of cabinet. In his letter of resignation, he said that he would not […]
This week, volatility in equities continued. This was accelerated by news that Apple’s suppliers had started to lower guidance. The first company to do that was Lumentum, which supplies Apple with facial identification technologies. It was followed by Qorvo, which provides network products to the company. This was a major news in the financial market […]
Switzerland is one of the most prosperous country in the world. Its prosperity comes because of a number of reasons. Historically, the country has taken a neutral approach to global issues. In fact, it did not participate in the Second World War. As a result, the country continued to develop its economy as the other […]
In October, the price of Brent crude oil jumped to a high of $86.70. This was the highest level in more than four years. The reason for the increase was that Iran sanctions were expected to start in November. Therefore, investors expected that an exit from the oil market would reduce the amount of crude […]
On Monday, sterling had a volatile day as traders received mixed news about the ongoing Brexit news. As a result, traders pushed the GBP/USD pair to a weekly low of 1.2695. After that, traders started receiving optimistic news again. This led the pair to climb to continue moving up. Yesterday, the positive news was confirmed […]
Today is an important day for the market, with investors expecting key data. This data will help them make informed decisions. This article will look at some of the data traders can anticipate today. Japan Economic Growth Earlier today, Japan released the preliminary reading of the third quarter GDP numbers. The numbers showed that the […]
Last week, the Federal Reserve released its monetary policy statement. In the statement, the bank announced that it would leave interest rates unchanged. This was expected. What was not expected was the hawkish tone from the bank. The Fed officials said that the US economy was strong enough to handle another rate hike. This left […]
Last week, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released the monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report. This is a monthly report made in collaboration with the bureau of statistics entities around the world. After the report was released, the price of wheat jumped from around $500 per ton to a high […]
Last week was an important one for the market mostly because of the US mid-term elections and the Federal Reserve. This week, the market may be relatively calm, with no major central bank expected to release its interest rates decision. This article will look at the biggest news that traders will look at this week. […]
On Friday, the United Kingdom released the GDP numbers for the second quarter. The numbers were in line with the expectations. On an annualized basis, the economy expanded by 1.5% in the third quarter. This was higher than the growth of 1.2% in the second quarter. The manufacturing data showed improvements in the sector. Manufacturing […]
The US dollar continued its rise, reaching near the 16-month high. The dollar’s rise was mostly because of the announcement by the Fed that more tightening was needed in last week’s meeting. This means that the likelihood of the Fed continuing to raise rates in December were extremely high. This will be the fourth rate […]
Today, the Federal Reserve will release its monetary policy statement for the month. This is a highly anticipated release although no major announcement is expected to be made. The Fed will likely leave interest rates unchanged. Traders will however pay close attention to the accompanying statement that will give an indication of the December decision. […]
Cocoa is one of the most popular commodities in the market. It is used in the manufacture of confectionaries and beverage products. Therefore, if you have a sweet tooth, chances are that you consume cocoa-made products regularly. Unlike other agricultural products like corn, cocoa is mostly a discretionary commodity. As a discretionary commodity, the product […]
In October, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had a tough month as traders continued to worry about the state of corporate earnings. In the month, while most companies reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, the impact of the ongoing trade war led to many of these companies to lower the guidance. This month, the Dow has started […]
On Friday, the US released the jobs numbers for the month of October. The numbers were way much more than traders had expected. In the month, the economy added more than 250K jobs. This was higher than the 190K that traders had expected. The wages rose by 3.1%, which was the fastest growth since 2009. […]
Last week was a crossover between the month of October and November. The month started with optimism after Trump’s call with China’s Xi Jinping. There were also reports that Trump had asked his senior officials to draft a potential trade deal that will be signed by China. The two leaders will meet in Argentina later […]
On Friday, Canada released the employment numbers for October. The numbers disappointed with the employment change being 11.2K. This was lower than the 12.7K that traders had expected. It was also lower than the September’s change of 63K. In the previous month, Canada had lost 51K jobs. At the same time, the participation rate declined […]
This week was the intersection between October and November. It was an important week for the market mostly because it brought the volatile month of October to an end. The chart below shows that the CBOE volatility index decreased after October ended. Trade Trader was an important topic this week. Yesterday, Trump revealed that he […]
The price of crude oil fell yesterday after a new report from OPEC revealed that its members were increasing production. The biggest gainers in the month were Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Libya. This increase was in line with the increase in production from the United States. Yesterday, data from the EIA showed that […]
