Market insight: U.S. Dollar at 11-Year High Against Euro

Posted on by The INO.com Team

By Elliott Wave International

On March 4, we spoke with Jim Martens, our Chief Currency Strategist. His Currency Pro Service is participating in our Pro Services Open House, a free week-long event that starts next Tuesday at elliottwave.com.

Elliott Wave International: Jim, it's a good time to talk about currencies, because the euro has just touched an 11-year low against the dollar. Did you ever think you'd live to see this day?

Jim Martens: Did I ever think I'd live to see this moment... Well, back in mid-2011, when EURUSD was trading near $1.50, we started talking about the upcoming retest of $1.1876, the 2010 low. We were convinced that the rally from that level was a correction -- so EURUSD would ultimately fall back to it. It took a while to get there because what followed was a wide-ranging sideways consolidation in EURUSD -- a triangle, in Elliott wave terms, an overlapping pattern labeled ABCDE that you see on this chart:

That triangle ended in May 2014 with EURUSD almost hitting $1.40. From that point we had been expecting a move below $1.1876 -- and we had lower targets, as well. Most of them have been hit, and the interesting thing is that now, all of a sudden, the idea of the dollar/euro parity is becoming popular. Someone at Goldman recently talked about parity by the end of 2017.

Elliott Wave International: Do you think we'll see parity? Continue reading "Market insight: U.S. Dollar at 11-Year High Against Euro" →

Forex Traders: The Only Question You Should Be Asking

Posted on by The INO.com Team

By Elliott Wave International

I can't help it. Whenever I read the mainstream financial news, I feel like I'm eavesdropping on a job interview at Microsoft.

In case you don't remember -- Microsoft was made famous, in part, for asking prospective employees one single question: Why is a manhole cover round?

They wanted to assess how a person approaches a question that has many answers. And, many answers are what they got, from the most practical (i.e. "Because a manhole is round") to the most philosophical (i.e. "The circle is the most aesthetically pleasing shape for the human eye.")

I'll now take you back to the world of mainstream finance where those in charge are regularly asked to answer this basic question: Why did market "X" move this way today? And, many answers are what they give.

Take, for a real-world example the March 9-10 upsurge to a 7-and-1/2 year high in the Dollar/Yen currency exchange pair. As for why the USDJPY rallied, the experts offered up these (and many more) explanations: Continue reading "Forex Traders: The Only Question You Should Be Asking" →

Sometimes You Get No Respect

Posted on by George Yacik

George Yacik - INO.com Contributor - Fed & Interest Rates


Ocwen Financial Corp. just can’t catch a break.

A recent research report says it does a better job than its competitors of modifying mortgages for struggling homeowners to enable them to stay in their homes. At the same time, some of its bondholders are complaining it does too many modifications at their expense. All along, the company has been the focus of state and federal regulators and consumer groups for supposedly abusing the subprime borrowers it services.

Which is it? Can all of this be true? Continue reading "Sometimes You Get No Respect" →

Sterling by the Charts

Posted on by Lior Alkalay

Lior Alkalay - INO.com Contributor - Forex


The UK economy, it seems, has been a study in opposites. It has swung from having been the fastest to the slowest, from experiencing high growth and then sluggishness, from moving from a high inflation environment to a low inflation environment. The UK economy is the great dichotomy, comprised of fading expectations and the bursting of optimistic sentiment that together carves the path of the Pound Sterling, a path that is as shaky now as it ever was and which, it seems, has been broken just this week.

Sterling Not Coming Back?

Looking at the chart below, we can tell much about the governing dynamics of Sterling buyers and sellers. Dips in the Sterling trade vs the Dollar were plentiful; back in 2009, when the crisis was at its climax, back in 2010, when UK growth was pegged as just “sluggish,” and then back in 2013, when it seemed the UK economy had finally lost all steam. Yet each and every time Sterling buyers emerged; in fact, not only did they emerge and crowd back into what they deemed an undervalued currency, but each time they emerged at a higher point, painting a picture of a fragile but steadily ascending path for the Pound vs the Dollar. Yet as the latest point on the chart shows, at this point in time the buyers have not re-emerged, letting the Pound break its ascending path. Why, this time in particular, are Sterling buyers not coming back? Continue reading "Sterling by the Charts" →

Weekly Futures Recap With Mike Seery

Posted on by The INO.com Team

We've asked Michael Seery of SEERYFUTURES.COM to give our INO readers a weekly recap of the Futures market. He has been Senior Analyst for close to 15 years and has extensive knowledge of all of the commodity and option markets.

Michael frequently appears on multiple business networks including Bloomberg news, Fox Business, CNBC Worldwide, CNN Business, and Bloomberg TV. He is also a guest on First Business, which is a national and internationally syndicated business show.

Gold Futures

Gold futures in the April contract settled in New York last Friday at $1,164 an ounce while currently trading at 1,156 down about 8 dollars for the trading week in a relatively nonvolatile trading session still trading below its 20 and 100 day moving average telling you that the trend is to the downside as I have been recommending a short position as of last Friday and if you took that trade place your stop loss above the 10 day high which currently stands at 1,214 risking around $2,400 per mini contract, however the chart structure will start to improve dramatically next week lowering the stop loss. The problem with gold at current time is the fact that the U.S dollar is sharply higher this week once again continuing to put pressure on the commodity markets as I don't see that trend stopping anytime soon as the next level of support is 1,130 – 1,140 & if that level is broken you would have to think that gold prices will trade below 1,100 and if you look at platinum prices they are hitting another contract low so I think gold will catch up to platinum to the downside. Continue reading "Weekly Futures Recap With Mike Seery" →