Matt Simpson

The week began with an element of risk on thanks for positive Chinese data over the weekend. China’s manufacturing PMI expanded in November to break a 7-months stretch of contraction according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). At 50.2, it’s the highest read since March and backed up by new orders expanding to 51.3. […]

The dollar index has stalled near resistance levels as we approach December, a month which is typically bearish for the Greenback. A weaker USD could help NZD/USD break higher for oversold levels and USD/CHF fall from parity. Matt Simpson takes a technical look. City Index: Spread Betting, CFD and Forex Trading on 12,000+ global markets […]

Well, Trump finally did it (no, not the Putinesque image of himself as a boxer) – he signed the Hong Kong Treaty after UK markets closed, sending risk appetite into a tailspin. As always, his timing raises questions, given the US markets had closed ahead of tomorrow’s Thanksgiving public holiday. But then I guess this also allows […]

FTSE: The Long & Short Of It | EasyJet, Compass, Hiscox The FTSE 100 trades just shy of 7440 resistance, although yesterday’s relatively small range and tall upper wick shows a hesitancy to break higher. As it currently trades around levels which triggered a -5% and -3.2% decline since October, it would be prudent to […]

USD/CHF Hesitates Below Parity (A Level Undefeated Since May) USD/CHF is approaching parity, a level which is clearly on the radar for market participants. Despite several failed attempts, USD/CHF has not closed above parity since May 2019. We could quibble over the fact that it opened above 1.0000 by a whisker on the 19th of June, yet […]

Weekly COT Report: Net-Short Exposure To VIX Hits A New Record As of Tuesday 19th November: Large speculators were net-long USD by $17 billion, up by $2.7 billion from the prior week Yet net-long exposure for the dollar index fell to a 20-week low CAD futures saw the largest weekly change with net-long exposure falling by -13.4% Bears […]

Poloz Strengthens The Canadian Dollar With His Neutral Stance | EUR/CAD, CAD/JPY Failing to back up his colleague, CAD bears closed out after Poloz gave his neutral stance. Given the dovish remarks by BOC’s Deputy Governor Wilkins earlier in the week, all Poloz had to do was vaguely back them and we’d have likely seen a much weaker Canadian dollar. […]

As long as 1480 holds as resistance and trade headlines remain favourable, the path of least resistance points lower for gold. Yesterday we noted that yen pairs were testing key support levels whilst the elusive ‘phase one’ trade deal sat on a knife’s edge. Well it was no surprise to see gold (a safe-haven during times of […]

ASX200: The Long And Short Of It | NAN, GXY, REA, BPT Consumer stocks (staples and discretionary) are the leaders the past 5 sessions and trade just off their record highs. All sectors remain in positive territory the past 52-weeks However, its been the worst two sessions for the ASX200 since the first week of […]

Yen Pairs Test Key Support Whilst ‘Phase One’ Sits On A Knife’s Edge Whilst the constant stream of hot and cold trade headlines risk trade-tease fatigue among market participants (for which I am guilty as charged…) it’s possible we’re at an inflection point which could impact risk sentiment, one way or another. A phase one […]