Swiss Franc Firmer on Thursday, Remains Fundamentally Bearish

The Swiss franc gained on the extremely weak US dollar today. The currency also halted its decline against the euro after 10 consecutive sessions of losses. Still, the Swissie remains an inherently bearish currency due to the negative fundamentals. State Secretariat for Economic Affairs released its consumer confidence survey today that said “consumers still rather downbeat.” The monetary policy outlook also remains a negative factor to the Swiss currency. With prospects for additional monetary easing from the
European Central Bank, there are strong chances that the Swiss National Bank will follow suit and cut interest rates further into negative territory from the current level of -0.75 percent. USD/CHF

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Bank of Japan Responsible for Weekly Losses of Yen

The past trading week was marked with several policy meetings of major central banks. The most interesting of them turned out to be the Bank of Japan meeting that resulted in a surprise cut of the interest rates into negative territory. As one can expect, this resulted in a slump of the Japanese yen. Not many market participants had expected Japan’s central bank to reduce rates, thinking that it would rather tweak its assets purchase program or implement other form of stimulus if any at all. Yet the BoJ surprised virtually everyone, announcing negative interest rates and

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Yen Edges Up on Demand for Safer Assets

Yen is heading higher as investors and traders turn to more traditional safe haven assets in response to uncertainty and volatility in the stock market. Yesterday, the yen was still relatively week. Thanks to the recent announcement from Bank of Japan policymakers that there would be negative interest rates in an effort to stimulate the economy, yen has been struggling. The BOJ seems determined that Japan will “win” the currency wars underway to make currencies relatively cheaper, and offering a reason to buy goods from particular countries. Today, however, there has been some demand for the yen, and the currency is

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Global Stocks Sink Benefiting Japanese Yen

The Japanese yen rallied today as the drop of crude oil led to a rout of global stocks which in turn resulted in risk aversion and demand for safe haven assets. Crude oil has attempted to rally intraday but failed to keep gains and retreated below the opening level. European stocks dropped more than 2 percent as a result, joined by equities of other regions in a decline. The yen profited from this, getting additional support from the

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BOE Decision Weighs on Pound

The latest interest rate decision from the Bank of England is weighing on the pound right now, sending it lower against many of its counterparts. Although sterling is still higher against the greenback, it’s fading a bit. The latest policy announcement saw the BOE maintaining its record low interest rates. One of the most significant changes in this month’s decision was the voting. Ian McCafferty has been voting for months to raise rates, and has been the only dissenter. This time, though, McCafferty changed his mind and voted along with the other members of the MPC to keep rates low. News that the BOE will continue to keep rates low sent the pound lower against its counterparts immediately following the

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Great Britain Pound Extends Losing Streak

The Great Britain pound dropped today, extending its losing streak against the euro and the Japanese yen for the fourth consecutive day. The sterling remained soft after yesterday’s monetary policy meeting of Britain’s central bank that showed unwillingness of policy makers to embark on monetary tightening. The outlook for tighter policy was the major

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Pound Hurt by Policy Outlook, Manages to End Week Higher vs. Dollar

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Euro Rallies a Bit as Gold Gains Ground

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Euro Down on Factory Data, Except Against the Dollar

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