Currency

Pound Continues To Slide As No-Deal Brexit Looms

Posted by Ben Rickert

on Monday, 7 October 2019 7:21

The pound is taking a pounding versus the dollar, euro and other currencies as the possibility of a no-deal Brexit looks increasingly likely.

Under new Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the government has strengthened its stance on a no-deal Brexit, which it has said is “now a very real prospect”.

The pound – which was trading at about $1.50 versus the dollar before the EU referendum in June 2016 – has fallen by 2.4% since Monday, when a spokesperson for Downing Street said that the UK would not enter talks with Europe unless the so-called Irish backstop is scrapped.

This week’s selloff shows little sign of a rebound, with options markets implying more pain on the horizon. Three-month implied volatility, a contract that expires just before the Oct. 31 Brexit deadline, jumped to the highest since before March 29, the original date for Britain to leave the European Union….CLICK for complete article

Foreign Exchange Trading Soars to $6.6 Trillion a Day, US Dollar is Total King

Posted by Wolf Richter

on Thursday, 19 September 2019 6:13

Ginormous numbers, FX swaps and spot trades, USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, Australian & Canadian dollars… but where the heck is China’s CNY?

It happens every three years: The Bank for International Settlements released its Triennial Central Bank Survey about the global foreign exchange (FX) and over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets, as it occurred in April. The numbers are ginormous, and get more ginormous with every survey, with trading volume measured in trillions of dollars per day. This is a huge data trove, and I will focus here on global FX trading.

To start with, there are the amounts. Currencies are traded in pairs, such as the US dollar against the euro. In April 2019, trading in FX markets reached $6.59 trillion per day, up 30% from the prior survey period, April 2016. Trades with the USD on one side of the trade averaged $5.82 trillion per day in April 2019. This was up 31% from the daily average in April 2016 and was over five times the daily average in April 2001…CLICK for complete article

Central Banks Have Printed $22 Trillion Worth Of New Credit Since 2008

Posted by Michael Pento

on Wednesday, 4 September 2019 7:33

Last week we wrote about how global central banks have created an economic time machine by forcing $17 trillion worth of bond yields below zero percent, which is now 30% of the entire developed world’s supply. Now it’s time to explain how the time machine they have built has broken down.

In parts of the developed world, individuals are now being incentivized to consume their savings today rather than being rewarded for deferring consumption tomorrow. In effect, time has been flipped upside down. These same central bankers then broke that time machine by guaranteeing investors they will never cease printing money until inflation has been firmly and permanently inculcated into the economy.

They have printed $22 trillion worth of new credit in search of this goal since 2008. This figure is still growing by the day. But by doing so, they have destroyed Capitalism. Freedom is dying; not by some Red Army but by central banks….CLICK for complete article

Are Blockchain Stocks Poised For A Comeback?

Posted by John Ryan

on Thursday, 29 August 2019 14:01

Along with cryptocurrencies, the blockchain concept has been adopted in many spheres of business and social life, too. We’ve celebrated the tenth anniversary of Bitcoin recently, and since its invention, it has firmly entered into the lives of millions of people. Moreover, the technology that underlies the main crypto helps people solve problems that seemed intractable before.

We now can improve the efficiency of logistics, protect our businesses from...Click here for full article.

Bitcoin Price Loses $10.5K Support as US-China Trade War Tensions Cool

Posted by William Suberg

on Wednesday, 14 August 2019 9:21

Bitcoin (BTC) price was feeling the pressure Aug. 14 after a fresh downturn saw the largest cryptocurrency settle below $10,500.

The latest in what has become a recognized pattern in recent months, Bitcoin reversed its previous successes from the weekend, when geopolitical uncertainty and fiat currency weakness in several jurisdictions pushed markets above $12,000.

In particular, it was Hong Kong and Argentina fuelling the theory, which Bitcoin critics such as….CLICK for complete article