Planet Wealth

FX Options Market Update - 8th September 2010

The market opened lower this morning in the immortal words of Forrest Gump, "For no particular reason."  Actually, the market is a bit overbought in the short term following last week's low volume rise, but the main culprit is the fact that bond spreads have widened in Europe renewing fears of further problems in the EU.

FX Options Market Update - 7th September 2010

FX Options Market Update - 2nd September 2010

FX Options Market Update - 31st August 2010

FX Options Market Update - 30th August 2010

After a fall in US equities on Monday the markets basically traded sideways for the rest of the week, resulting in the S&P500 closing down 0.7%, the Dow off 0.6% and the Nasdaq down 1.2%. European equity markets also traded in a choppy fashion but closed to the upside in Britain with the FTSE finishing the week up 0.1%, while Germany followed the US’ lead and closed down 0.9%.

FX Options Market Update - 27th August 2010

The news of the morning is certainly the Jobless Claims as the Labor Department reported that claims for unemployment benefits fell to 473,000, which was slightly better than the 490,000 that was expected.  The S&P futures jumped about five points on the news and the market opened slightly to the upside.  The US Dollar is having a very bad day against all major currencies and could lend support to the positive stance in the market. 

The second time is the charm so far in today's trade.  The Dow was able to recover the 10,000 level on its second test attempt.  Now the dance comes from the other direction.  At the time of this posting, the market is now testing the 10,000 level from above.  As mentioned this morning, the close will be very interesting as to which side of 10,000 we finish.

The futures were flat pre-market open until the Durable Goods orders (goods that are expected to last for several years) number was released.  Although the number showed an increase of 0.3 percent for July, after stripping out the more volatile transportation sector (dominated by aircraft orders), orders actually fell 3.8 percent, the biggest drop since January.  Futures fell dramatically and it looked as though the Dow would open below 10,000.  The market opened and the Dow held above that psychological level of 10,000 until the New Home sales data was released.  N