Market News

When Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen reiterated her expectations to raise interest rates this year for the first time since 2006 she put smiles on the faces of her peers at central banks around the world.

Last week’s release of inflation data helped to push the US Dollar Index higher and lifted the greenback to an 8-year peak versus the Japanese Yen.

Crude oil seems to be making a comeback. With prices rebounding significantly over the last few weeks, traders are jumping back in with expectations of continued gains.

With all the talk by Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen and other Fed officials that interest rates will be raised by the end of the year, Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer seems to be taking a different approach, believing that there is a risk to raising interest rates prematurely.

Although the Forex market is open all week, Monday is a public holiday in both the U.K. and the U.S.A., as well as most of the rest of Europe, so it should be a very quiet day.

Japan’s economy is moving at a quicker pace than anticipated. Data released Monday revealed that April exports climbed 8.0 percent from a year earlier, beating expectations and highlighting a steady recovery in export demand.

Changes are not expected in the Fed’s plan to raise interest rates in the very near future. Fed Chair Janet Yellen will point to some progress in raising employment and lowering inflation when she meets today to discuss the economy’s progress.

The Euro managed to recover some losses made in the wake of the Federal Reserve’s policy release yesterday which tended to support the greenback given that there were no Fed surprises.

The latest report out of China, its Flash China Manufacturing Output Index, pointed to a drop in factory activity for the third straight month in May, down to 48.4 from an April high of 50.0 and hitting a 13-month low.

After several days when the pressure was high against it, the US Dollar touched a 3-week peak versus the common currency Euro and 2-month high against the Japanese Yen.

The release of Japan’s GDP data Wednesday gave an encouraging sign for the health of the Japanese economy.

The common currency Euro plummeted versus its main rival the US Dollar after officials of the European Central Bank (ECB) indicated that they might be willing to take additional action to lower bond yields in the Eurozone and to boost inflation.

Minutes from the RBA’s May 5th meeting were released Monday, the content of which stated that the central bank had deliberated about delaying an interest rates cut, but given the forecasts for continued slow growth and the jobless numbers remaining high for longer than expected, it had made the decision to go ahead, cutting the rate a quarter point to a record low of 2%.

Though the dismal data from the US continues to pour in the US Dollar was able to regain some of last week’s losses even as investors weigh the likelihood that the Federal Reserve Bank will now not be making any policy change in the coming months.

Despite fairly negative economic news, the S&P 500 managed to reach above 2,120 on Friday, just 4 points from the all-time intraday record.