The Single Currency Keeps Moving Upward despite ECB’s Inability to Offset Bond Purchases

December 1st, 2011 No comments

The euro kept its upward movement on Tuesday despite the announcement of European Central Bank that it was not capable of compensation of its bond purchases. As per statement of ECB, it took 194.2 billion euros equivalent to $252.2 billion from financial system from its weekly auction, which also already 203.3 billion euros less than expected target.

The 17-nation’s shared currency gained to 1.3329 against the US dollar on Tuesday as compared to 1.3307 on Monday’s late trading hours.

Research director, Kathleen Brooks from Forex.com commented, “The ECB has left euros sloshing about the European financial system, this is QE – extremely light – more like QE- zero than diet, but it is a form of QE nonetheless and as such the euro is getting hit.”

On Tuesday, US released its much economic data. The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index jumped to 56 in November. Moreover, S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city composite index fell 0.6 percent, resulting in decline of 3.6 percent in home prices. Despite the p

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Auckland to lead house price growth, says ASB survey

November 23rd, 2011 No comments

ASB expects house prices nationwide to grow by around 3 per cent over the coming year, the bank’s chief economist, Nick Tuffley, said.

Tuffley, in releasing the bank’s housing confidence survey, said house price growth in Auckland is likely to be stronger than that, reflecting a tighter market.

Housing confidence continued to drift lower in the three months to October, while Christchurch is showing signs of a housing market recovery, according to the survey.

The ASB Housing Confidence Index edged down one point over the quarter, with a net 24 per cent of respondents saying that now is a good time to buy a house, compared to 25 per cent in the previous quarter.

Sentiment remained slightly above the historical average of net 22 per cent.

Tuffley said that while nationwide house price expectations have decreased slightly over the past quarter, there was a continued improvement in price expectations in Christchurch.

A net 43 per cent of those surveyed in Christchurch expect house prices will rise, compared to just over a net third of respondents in Auckland and net 22 per cent across New Zealand.

This suggested underlying housing demand in the Canterbury region was recovering from the impacts of the earthquakes, Tuffley said.

The bank expected Government and insurance payouts to support a continued recovery in house sales in the region.

On the flip side, the perceptions of the current market in Christchurch were negative.

“A negative six per cent of respondents in Christchurch thought now was a good time to buy a house compared to a positive net 24 per cent across New Zealand as a whole, reflecting the issues still faced by the region,” Tuffley said.

Nationally, while there was an increase in the number of respondents who expect interest rates will increase over the next year, a monthly breakdown of the results indicate this largely reflects high interest rate expectations early in the survey period.

A net 57 per cent of respondents now expect interest rates to rise, up from a net 46 per cent in the July quarter, Tuffley said.

“However, there was a steady decline in interest rate expectations over the quarter, reflecting the deterioration in global market conditions over this period.”

Recent market data continued to point to a gradual pick-up in underlying housing demand.

Tuffley said the housing market still looked to be constrained by supply, with new house listings continuing to decline.

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Categories: Best Bank Rates Tags: House Price, Survey

6.218 % Century Aluminum (CENX) Bonds Yield-to-Worst Call May 2013.

November 14th, 2011 No comments


6.218% yield to call in May 15, 2013

At Durig Capital, we have developed a process to screen, review, select, purchase and monitor high yielding corporate bonds.  Each week we screen thousands of corporate bond listings to find what we believe to currently be the best corporate bond for investors needing or seeking higher yields with the least amount of risk as possible relative to its projected return.  The following is our review process, along with supporting documents, showing why we believe this high yield short 6.218% bond with only 20 months to call for Century Aluminum passes the criteria for our clients.

Step 1 – Assessing the Yield Curve

While the M1 money supply is currently growing at over 20% year over year, and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) moving up to 3.9%, our screening has revealed to us the highest 3 yr CD rates for 3 years is about 1.6 % percent.  Th

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Categories: Best Bank Rates Tags: 2013, May 2013

Interest rates held despite UK growth fears

November 9th, 2011 No comments

The Bank of England kept its powder dry on Thursday despite the escalating eurozone crisis, leaving rates on hold at 0.5pc and deciding against another injection of cash into the economy. Economists said the Bank is likely to reveal next week that it expects inflation to drop below its target within two years – a clear signal that it may need to increase QE again. 

As the European Commission (EC) sharply downgraded its growth forecasts for the UK for both this year and next, the Bank voted to maintain quantitative easing (QE) at £275bn.

Last month, it surprised markets with an extra £75bn of QE. Speculation had been mounting in recent days that the Bank might provide another shock in light of the deteriorating economic outlook.

Next week, the Bank is expected to slash its growth forecasts for the UK from August’s prediction of 1.5pc to around 1pc. It w

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Categories: Best Bank Rates Tags: Rates, Rates Held

Euro Strengthens as the Greece Holds Plans for Referendum

October 31st, 2011 No comments

The 17-nations shared currency recovered on Thursday as the Greece government decided to cancel the referendum for the bailout package for which the country agreed to last week. Senior vice president, Greg Salvaggio from Tempus Consulting commented, “Without the referendum, the deal stays in place, no referendum is good for the euro.”

The euro did witness some pressure in the start of the session when ECB’s President Mario Draghi showed his concerns over the euro zone’s economy. Chief economic strategist , Andrew Wilkinson from Miller Tabak commented, “Clearly the central bank is less than happy about the early signs of fallout on the real economy from the sovereign debt crisis,”

The single currency gained to 1.3839 against the US dollar on Thursday as compared to 1.3745 on Wednesday’s North American trading session.

The dollar index DXY which measures the US dollar’s performance against its six major rival currencies fell to 76.645 on Thursday as compared to 77.096 on Wednesday late trading hours.

Among other currencies, the British Pound also surged versus the US dollar to 1.6047 on Thursday as compared to 1.5950 on late Wednesday. The US dollar m

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