1 minute with ForexSurvivor     A.      (30 April US) Latest Impact: The rate is inching closer to zero (today’s cut to 2.00% - ForexSurvivor target rate @ par) and the Fed did not cut the full half that has already been priced in the market, for leaving itself room to maneuver when further financial shocks are wired. With more cuts on the way, the crisis isn’t close to ending.     B.      Signal GBPCHF: Sell closing today;

EURO The euro lost marginal ground vis-à-vis the U.S. dollar today as the single currency tested bids around the US$ 1.5515 level and was capped around the $1.5610 level.  Traders eagerly await the outcome of today’s Federal Open Market Committee interest rate decision.  Most traders believe the Fed will reduce the federal funds target rate lower by 25bps to 2.00% and is likely to move towards a more neutral policy stance from its current expansionary stance.  The common

EURO The euro lost marginal ground vis-à-vis the U.S. dollar today as the single currency tested bids around the US$ 1.5515 level and was capped around the $1.5610 level.  Traders eagerly await the outcome of today’s Federal Open Market Committee interest rate decision.  Most traders believe the Fed will reduce the federal funds target rate lower by 25bps to 2.00% and is likely to move towards a more neutral policy stance from its current expansionary stance.  The common

Spreads are a bit tighter in the secondary market and volatility has been lower. Subsequently, activity in the primary market activity has been high. The week also brought a lot of Q1 reports from the Scandi banks but was otherwise quiet. Due to Thursday and Friday being bank holidays in Denmark, this week’s credit strategy update is a mid-week update. Spreads in the secondary market have tightened a bit during the week and volatility has been lower. European investment-grade credit spreads in

The US dollar is up slightly today versus the Euro and Japanese yen before the Fed is due to announce its rate decision. With the US non-farm payrolls due to be reported this Friday, market players were eager about the today’s private sector payrolls forecast, and USD bulls were heartened by the results. According to payrolls giant Automatic Data Processing, private sector jobs increased by 10,000 in April, which were much better than expectations of a 70,000 decline. Also supporting the buck

The US dollar is up slightly today versus the Euro and Japanese yen before the Fed is due to announce its rate decision. With the US non-farm payrolls due to be reported this Friday, market players were eager about the today’s private sector payrolls forecast, and USD bulls were heartened by the results. According to payrolls giant Automatic Data Processing, private sector jobs increased by 10,000 in April, which were much better than expectations of a 70,000 decline. Also supporting the buck

Yesterday it was Visa (V: 84.18 +3.30 +4.08%) and today Mastercard (MA: 279.89 +5.91 +2.16%) reported its earnings. The results for both were good, with Mastercard earning more than double last Q1 at $446.9 million, or $3.38 per share up from $214.9 million, or $1.57 a share last year. Some of these earnings came from “one time” events such as the sale of holdings in Brazilian company Redecard. Even after excluding those earnings, the results were still far better than what analysts had

According to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index released today, US home prices in 20 cities fell by 12.7% in February compared to a year ago. This decline was worse than the 12% drop expected by many, and steeper than the 10.7% drop posted in January. Record annual declines were seen in 17 of the 20 metro areas. Las Vegas and Miami have the worst declines: Home prices dropped 23% in Las Vegas and 22% in Miami. The only area with a gain was Charlotte which registered a 1.5%

- Equities are pushing higher ahead of FOMC announcement. The early news flow was generally positive, leading off with an ADP employment report that indicated job growth of 10K v the -60K expected. Q1 advanced GDP confirmed a slowing US economy but the 0.6% reading did narrowly beat expectations, while the price index was elevated at 2.6% but missed consensus at 3%. After the New York open, the Chicago PMI came in below the 50 level, beating expectations and indicating growth. The Dow is

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