The S&P 500 has extended to its best levels of the day as trading winds down for the week. It’s been an impressive rebound in a holiday-shortened US trading week.

Today’s gain has pushed the index into the mid-June gap.

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.

WTI crude oil climbed $3.35 to settle at $107.62 while brent finished the week at $113.12.

Both are lower compared to last Friday’s close and that’s the second week in a row of declines but it follows a streak of seven consecutive weekly gains.

Overall, crude is right in the middle of the range since the outbreak of the Ukraine war and the bulls should be encouraged by that given the recession fears, the OPEC+ increase and the SPR release.

As for OPEC+, they will meet again on Thursday but a report this week citing five sources indicated the status quo. A bigger question is what happens beyond August when the scheduled increases run out. Nigeria has been underproducing but said it hopes to have its oil online quickly. Libya’s production is inconsistent. Hopes for an end to the Iran nuclear deal are nearly non-existent.

For me, the dominant feature on the chart is the series of higher lows that’s intact so long as crude stays above $95. The buying interest today shows ongoing tightness in the physical market but a sharp economic slowdown could reverse that in the months ahead.

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.

• Lower growth, higher inflation will follow in the months ahead
• Inflation to start declining in Q4 this year
• Main concern is second round effects of inflation
• A wage price spiral will be very detrimental for the economy

Just some token remarks there by de Guindos but once again it just reaffirms the narrative that central banks are continuing to kick the can down the road when it comes to the timeline of getting inflation „under control“.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

• Frontloading rate hikes is a good idea in this situation
• It means that we can stop inflation before it becomes entrenched
• Would like for rates to move up to 3.50% by year-end

Central banking these days have never really been about going „according to plan“. Remember when policymakers were telling us that inflation was just ‚transitory‘? The last echoes of that sentiment wasn’t even a year ago. Pfft.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

• Households have much savings from the pandemic
• No sign from households that they are pulling back on spending meaningfully
• Labour market is very strong
• Rate hikes will slow down the economy but only slow it down to trend growth
• There will just be a moderate slowdown in the economy, not a major one
• It will be unusual to return to a recession unless there is a big shock
• We are not even near neutral rate yet to control inflation, so too early to talk about recession probabilities

There isn’t anything here that suggests that he is on the same page as Powell about demand destruction and he is certainly going out of his way to reassure that a recession isn’t imminent in the US.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

• Australian economy is remarkably resilient
• The challenge is to bring down inflation painlessly

Just some token remarks by Lowe in a speaking engagement. After delivering some rather unorthodox rate hikes recently, it will be interesting to see what the RBA will go with next on 5 July.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

While the yen stole the spotlight in trading yesterday, the franc continues to do its work steadily following the SNB policy pivot two weeks ago. As mentioned then, the change has definitely shaken up the landscape of the major currencies bloc and puts the franc at among the frontrunners considering the timing of the surprise and how shaky markets look at the moment.

The swissie is the top performer today with USD/CHF itself down 0.5% to 0.9565 while EUR/CHF is testing daily support from the April lows at 1.0088-89 again currently. A firm break below that opens up another shot at parity for the pair and this time there might be more conviction to break that after the attempt in March failed.

• Parity now the new normal in EUR/CHF – Credit Agricole (22/06)
• EUR/CHF: Core target at 0.9830; ‚measured triangle objective‘ at 0.9600 – Credit Suisse (20/06)
• Parity beckons for EUR/CHF (17/06)

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

Equities are producing a rather solid rebound on the session now with S&P 500 futures climbing by ~27 points to 3,790, or up 0.7%, on the day. That compares with earlier where it fell by ~28 points to 3,735, or down by 0.7%, after the dismal PMI readings from France and Germany. However, the optimistic turnaround is not broad-based as mentioned here.

In FX, the dollar and yen are still holding on to gains mostly. EUR/USD is down 0.5% to 1.0505 with the low earlier touching 1.0485 and testing the 200-hour moving average:

Buyers are holding on to that for now with large expiries at 1.0500 perhaps also a factor on the day.

Meanwhile, GBP/USD is down 0.5% to 1.2205 but the low earlier came in near 1.2270 and the pair caught a bounce of some near-term support highlighted here.

Elsewhere, USD/CAD is holding a little higher at 1.2960 – up just 0.1% on the day and AUD/USD is down 0.5% to 0.6890 with sellers not letting up just yet despite the turn in the risk mood.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

3 decades ago,
investing was an activity which was reserved for a select few over on Wall
Street. Today, however, virtually anyone can access the market right out of
their pocket.

 

Technology advanced to
the point in which we can buy and sell assets like stocks, crypto, or
currencies with just a little tap on our phone.

 

Forex trading is no stranger to this
transformation as it felt the technological advance in remarkable ways.

 

Friction was severely
reduced for forex traders

 

Traders can now log on
to their preferred digital investment platform and have a wide range of
currencies from which they can choose to trade. Trades are now more efficient,
and cost-effectiveness has also greatly improved.

 

Accordingly, costs are
now low, settlement speed has greatly increased, and transparency has been
massively improved.

 

Technology is a synonym
of inclusiveness in Forex trading

 

All of the factors
described above have greatly contributed as drivers of innovation and
competition, as they made the inclusion of new technologies such as
machine-learning and artificial intelligence a reality in trading.

New technologies have also
made forex trading a more inclusive process as they reduced its costs, thus
creating overall benefits, but also by powering innovation hubs in newly
emerged markets across the world.

 

Centers for financial
technology and digital hubs have risen across the globe further strengthening
the value chain by empowering FX growth and FX fast growing capital.

 

But as companies sprout
everywhere it is important to find and stick with the best forex technology
provider

 

With several new
platforms and forex software providers appearing out of nowhere many will agree
that we’ve seen the democratization of forex.

The issue with forex
liberalization in the early 21st century was that the companies which spawned
we’re basically forex providers with a one-track business model: undercutting
banks.

 

As such, they would
usually charge an opaque mark-up on their clients instead of a transparent fee.
However, what investors really wanted lied beyond an undercut.

 

Whether through easy
access to the markets, a wide range of instruments or a simple training
analysis view, traders wanted to be empowered by their brokers.

 

Consequently, reliability
is a quality which only a select few brokers have earned over the years

 

In fact, transparency
and reliability are probably the most important things in the trading sector.

 

This is why reliable
brokers get recognized as such. Looking back at this year’s Ultimate Fintech
2022, one of the most prestigious and reputable events in the world of finance,
one can see how FxGrow took the lead by winning both the Most Reliable Broker
award and the Best White Label Solution award.

 

 

FxGrow has been winning awards consistently over
the years making it a great example of how a reputable forex broker establishes
itself and puts their clients first.

So, what exactly is the
future of forex?

 

What the future of
forex will look like is still up in the air. Some claim that with its growing
popularity it might be headed towards a blockchain solution.

 

Others will say that it
is important to reduce friction as much as possible first, that forex trading
needs to be done quicker and in a more cost-effective manner.

 

Regardless of where
forex is headed, finding a reliable and transparent broker, one which you will
be glad to have by your side is mandatory.

This article was written by ForexLive at www.forexlive.com.

• Prior -1

UK retailers continue to report falling sales in June, with the report highlighting that they are also expecting sales next month to be well below normal for this time of the year. If anything else, this just underscores the fallout amid the cost-of-living crisis that is weighing on consumption activity. CBI notes that:

„Retail volumes are struggling as high inflation eats away at consumers‘ budgets. The squeeze on household income appears to have offset any boost to activity from the extended Platinum Jubilee bank holiday earlier this month.“

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.