The average USD climbed fast the last 2 weeks.

 6 major currency pairs against the USD are below.

Amazon launched its own digital currency,

Amazon Coins allowing people to buy apps and games in its app store and on its Kindle Fire tablet computers.

For more click on the picture.

(c) Reuters…

Federal Reserve officials have mapped out a strategy for winding down an unprecedented $85 billion-a-month bond-buying program meant to spur the economy—an effort to preserve flexibility and manage highly unpredictable market expectations.

Officials say they plan to reduce the amount of bonds they buy in careful and potentially halting steps, varying their purchases as their confidence about the job market and inflation evolves. The timing on when to start is still being…

Sweden and the Euro: Logos-driven People vs. Pathos-driven Establishment.

In 2003, Sweden held a referendum on the issue of joining the EMU. The Swedish elite on both the left and the right virtually uniformly supported joining.

Referendum: red…

ECB President Mario Draghi is receiving an honorary degree today in Rome.

It’s not the proper forum for a speech on economic policy so I wouldn’t expect anything but there is always a chance he fine-tunes his comments on negative rates

http://www.sokratis.it/luiss-oggi-laurea-honoris-causa-a-mario-draghi/

(c) Sokrais.it

A quick overview of the major currency pairs on strenghth/weakness for week 18.

Whats the impact of the big EUR/USD move  today on the average of the 6 major FX pairs against the US Dollar?

Only a small rise in strength on the index.…

Interesting article from Alex Merk:

Last year, with all the turmoil in the Eurozone, the euro was up 1.79% versus the dollar; that appeared to be the best the U.S. dollar could do in times of turmoil.

Of the major currencies only the Japanese yen was down versus the U.S. dollar.

Click on the table for the article.

(c) Mark Investments / Market…

For those traders who like to trade less volatile strategies.

EUR/USD against USD/CHF, daily close (NY 4 PM)

High correlation.

Trade new highs/lows of the ratio, based on closing prices.

Only 2 trades in April, +140 pips.

Keep things simple !…

The average on the 6 major pairs against the US Dollar.

For more click on the chart:

The IQ-Trading Challenge will be a new ongoing competition

set up by Algortihmic Software developers themselves.

Quants for Quants!

Funded at the start ( at this moment of the start this week )

with over $100.000.000,- and some of the best global FX fund managers

are behind this.

The website gives more information:…

Another crisis is inevitable, argued Marc Faber at the Robeco World Investment Forum.

So how should investors position themselves?

And how can you spot when the asset-price bubble will burst?

For more click on the picture:

(c)Robeco World Investment…

Reuters has dug up some of the the trading volumes in futures from 1:09-1:12 pm ET as a fake tweet from the hacked AP twitter account caused a gigantic blip in markets.

• 260,000 front month S&P e-mini contracts traded (about 13% of avg. daily volume)
• 180,000 front month 10-year Treasury futures contracts traded

The notional value of the S&P contracts would be around $20 billion and the notional of the T-note futures would have been $18…

The average on the 6 major pairs against the US Dollar.

For more click on the chart:

Interesting technical analyses:

The head and shoulders should be proven either way in the next few trading days. Anticipating this type of pattern has been painful this year. The head and shoulders is seen by technicians as a signal of more selling to come.

For more:…

The free fall of the Gold price below. (ETF, GLD)

The whole week daily red bars, means downward pressure.

Also the hedge percentage, see bottom of the chart) was below zero for the whole week to a maximum 100% short.

No sign of recovery yet and if it comes it will take some to to climb out of the woods again.…

Interesting article for all.

Click on the Gold for more.

(c)PeakProsperity

As the backlash against austerity and bailouts increases in the euro zone, billionaire investor George Soros is the latest person to criticize Germany's role, telling the country on Tuesday that austerity "does not work" and that it should even consider leaving the euro itself.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100629323

(c) CNBC

The Bundesbank, has introduced into the public discourse the notion that Southern Europeans are richer than Germans.

http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/eurocrisispress/ 

(c)…

The average on the 6 major pairs against the US Dollar.

For more click on the chart: