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<p>U.S. Highlights Financial markets optimism faded this week as economic data continued to show the severe damage caused by COVID-19 and social distancing protocols. Closures of non-essential businesses all around the country, coupled with mounting job losses, resulted in retail sales plummeting by 16.4% in April, a record drop. Consumer pri

<p>Next week brings two reports that will shed some more light on how the consumer sector (more than half of Canada’s economy) has been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. March retail sales will look a bit stale, particularly with the US having already reported retail activity for April (much worse than March, and much worse […]

<p>US President Donald Trump was out in full force this week in his attempt to blame China for the spread of the coronavirus.  He was also touting a strong US Dollar!  As economic data around the globe continues to be dismal, many countries and central banks also continue to say they are prepared to do […]

<p>The CFTC poured cold water over the market exuberance, warning brokers, exchanges and clearing houses to be ready for crude oil prices to move yet again into negative territory. The markets have been very enthusiastic over the last few days about how the worst of the decline in oil prices is now over, how the […]

<p>No such thing as a dull week It’s been another interesting week in financial markets. One of economic reopening, second waves, stark warnings, recession and much more. The week ahead is going to be no less eventful as investors come to grips with the reality of the situation we’re all facing while factoring in the […]

<p>GDP numbers out of Japan will be headlining the start of the trading week as first quarter growth estimates are published on Monday local time (Sunday, 23:50 GMT). The world’s third largest economy is expected to have contracted for the second quarter in a row, meaning it has entered a technical recession even though Japan […]

<p>The coming week seems relatively quiet. The preliminary PMIs for April in the UK, US, and Eurozone will give us an update on how much businesses have suffered, while the minutes of the latest Fed meeting might reaffirm the central bank’s willingness to do even more, even as Chairman Powell hints that Congress should take […]

<p>This week, Fed chair Jerome Powell dismissed the possibility of negative rates in the US saying ‘it isn’t something we’re looking at’. Bank of England has also dismissed it for now and the Bank of Japan (BoJ) sees no need to take interest rates deeper into negative. Focus for BoJ is to pump money into […]

<p>Retail sales plunged 16.4% in April on widespread declines Industrial production fell 11.2% – marking the largest decline on record back to 1921 April data exceptionally soft, but probably at least close to near-term bottom for the economy Economic reports for the month of April are beginning to lay bare the extent of the slowdown [&

<p>AUDCAD has been showing a clearer bearish tendency since the start of 2018 which could now come into question if the price manages to extend its latest rebound above the swing high of 0.9150. The 50% Fibonacci of the downleg with a peak at 1.0241 and a trough at 0.8063 is also placed around this […]