In the ever-evolving landscape of global economics, precious metals like silver, often serve as key indicators and safe havens. This week, we'll explore the factors making silver an interesting prospect in today's market. Current Macroeconomic Indicators: The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) data indicates a slight increase in the US for July, registering at...
The ‘crack spread’ is a term used in the oil industry that refers to the differential between the price of crude oil and the petroleum products extracted from it, such as gasoline and heating oil. The name comes from the process of 'cracking' crude oil in a refinery to produce these valuable products. The spread serves as a measure of refining margin, or...
Christine Lagarde's remarks about an open-minded ECB, coupled with a robust labor market and persistently high inflation in the eurozone, continue to provide the ECB with reasons to lean towards hiking. While headline inflation may be trending downwards, core inflation remains steadfast in the eurozone. Following the meeting on July 27, the ECB raised interest...
The last time we looked at copper was last October, and the trade played out nicely in our favor. Much has happened since then and we think another opportunity lies on the horizon now. Revisiting the same analysis now we observe the following… China, being the largest copper buyer, its currency pair CNHUSD traditionally shares a high correlation with...
Following our initial publication, we've received some astute feedback that warrants further and more in-depth discussion. A reader correctly noted that the DAX and Euro STOXX 50 differ in their treatment of dividends - a detail we initially glossed over for simplicity's sake. The DAX is a performance index, including dividends, while the Euro STOXX 50 is a price...
Germany, Europe's economic powerhouse, has consistently delivered impressive performance since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and the European debt crisis. This strong performance is rooted in Germany's strong manufacturing sectors and robust export activities. The country's economic strength is exemplified by the DAX's considerable outperformance of other...
Soybeans have certainly caught our attention as a classic head and shoulders pattern has emerged, suggesting a possible trend reversal. This implies a potential drop equivalent to the height from the head to the neckline, taking us towards the 900 level. Could this be signalling more downside in the soybean market? The current price action is intriguing as an...
It has been some time since we delved into the intricate world of interest rates and their prospective trajectories. With the yield curve experiencing significant movement in recent weeks, it's high time we reassess our stance. Following a staggering 500 basis points increase, we now find ourselves potentially nearer to the end of the rate hike cycle than ever...
The Nasdaq's formidable recovery from the October 2022 bottom resulted in an impressive 42% surge, a rare feat for a major index. However, as it grapples with resistance at the 15250 level this past week, we are compelled to question if this upward momentum is running out of steam. Notably, historical instances where the Relative Strength Index (RSI) soared past...
You may have heard of a certain Warren Buffett, and it seems like he might be onto something... Buffett, known as the "Oracle of Omaha," has demonstrated remarkable investment timing, or perhaps an innate ability to steer investment flows. This was clearly illustrated by his investment in Japan, which triggered a rally in the Nikkei to decade-long highs. While...
As the debt ceiling discussions draw to a close, the dollar's rally indicates that markets have largely priced in this event. The focus now returns to the Federal Reserve (Fed) and its notably hawkish stance. Fed officials' recent statements and fed fund futures, which are pricing in another rate hike in the upcoming meeting, suggest it might be the right time to...
As the world remains engrossed in the unfolding drama of the debt ceiling, we believe another event of significance deserves our attention. Let's take a brief detour into the annals of economic history, looking at the era of Abenomics. This term refers to the monetary policy instituted during Shinzo Abe's second term as Prime Minister of Japan. Abenomics rested...
The most recent Caixin Manufacturing PMI dipped below 50, landing back in contraction territory after two prints above the 50-mark. As the world's top exporter, China is acutely sensitive to fluctuations in both exports and manufacturing numbers. Historically, we've seen periods of Yuan devaluation during times of contracting Manufacturing PMI and exports as...
Natural gas made a stunning rally to an all-time high, only to come crashing back down again. It's been a while since we last covered natural gas, so let's take a look at what's happened since then. The previous technical & seasonality setup played out perfectly with the RSI bouncing off the low and the rally into the winter season, hitting our profit...
Live cattle recently hit an all-time high, leaving us wondering if the rally has gone too far. The front month contract reached 177 on April 13, surpassing the previous record set in November 2014. Meanwhile, lean hogs have been trading lower since last year. One way to assess this trend is to look at the spread between the two livestock markets. Both the...
Here’s an interesting chart: the inflation differential of the US and the EU plotted against the EUR/USD pair. If we approximate the range of the inflation differential with an upper bound of 1.5 and a lower bound of -0.5, we get a compelling signal for trading the EUR/USD pair. Buying EUR/USD when the inflation differential bottoms has resulted in success 4...
This week, the Bank of Japan governor’s Kuroda’s decade long term comes to an end. As such we would like to take some time to review what this means for the Yen and in particular, the AUDJPY. Firstly, central bank timings. In case you missed it, last Tuesday the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) snapped its consecutive 10 rate hikes, being the second major...
The surprise production cut announcement from OPEC+ on Sunday caught us off guard! With oil prices surging close to 7%, the question arises: will this trend persist? To put the production cut into perspective, the unexpected 1.16 million barrels per day reduction is a continuation of the cuts announced last October. In total, these cuts will represent roughly...