Taking stock of what has happened. The last week has seen dramatic moves in commodities and none more so than in Gold. There is lots of speculation as to what has caused this selling of commodities but the simple matter of fact is that there were more sellers than buyers at the levels of last […]
The Italian Crisis — FIU
Italy took centre stage yesterday after the inconclusive result from the general election. Price action in Italian Government bonds is certainly not positive for the markets. After an initial weak opening, domestic institutions took prices higher and yields lower after the initial re-pricing of the yield curve. The gradual selling throughout most of the day, […]
Current market fundamentals — FIU
It is becoming difficult to trade on fundamentals at the moment. The markets are dominated by sentiment which in itself is being driven by political noise. Firstly, the US Treasury market back up in yields has not been driven by a rise in inflation expectations as would have been expected. In fact forward inflation expectations […]
European Banks have chosen to repay 137.2bln Euro in funds — FIU
Friday’s announcement that on January 30th, 278 European Banks have chosen to repay €137.2bln in funds that they borrowed from the ECB in the first of the LTROs, spooked the European interest rate markets. Why I am not so sure. There are little risk free assets you can buy above the rate, 0.75%, at which […]
A lack of Bad News — FIU
A lack of bad news is enough for the Safe Haven markets to lose their appeal. Little US economic data and a quiet political period in Europe is taking some fear out of the market Yesterday’s auction of new 10yr US Treasuries was a real disappointment to the market and me. The result at 1.68% […]