Pivotfarm Daily News Harvest 11th August 2010

Markets in a Flash

·        
The JPY continues to look
strong today. The JPY/USD continues its trend and is making new highs.

·        
The EUR/USD is trading just
above the 1.3000 level. It has bounced of the resistance today and may possible
go through as people abandon risk for the greenback.

·        
US equity futures are lower by
over -1.0% this morning following the fall in worldwide markets.

·        
Commodities are mainly lower
today. Oil is back down under the $80.00 mark, while people buy gold and push
in up to above $1200.00.

·        
Asian markets fell over night.
The Nikkei 225 finished down -2.70% while other indices were also lower.

·        
European equity markets are
lower this morning. The Stoxx 50 is down -1.81%.

News focus

Fed Acknowledges Slowing Growth

After
yesterday’s announcement from the Federal Open Market Committee’s meeting it
shows that the slew of economic data suggesting slowing has been acknowledged.
The Fed is set to continue using monetary policy as its weapon for stimulating
the economy. Policy makers have decided to reinvest the proceeds from maturing
debt securities. This will mean the feds balance sheet will remain at its
current size instead of reducing.

Just Released

International
Trade

Trade Balance Level

Previous                 $-42.3 B                    Consensus          $-42.5 B

Consensus Range    $-46.2B to $-40.0B      Actual                   $-49.9 B               

The international trade report shows the US’s trade gap.
A negative figure shows that more money is leaving the country than is coming
in. Today’s figure shows data for June. The figure is worse than expected and
shows that the deficit is larger. This indicates that the US is doing worse than expected and is bearish
for the US
markets.

Coming up Today

1030ET – Petroleum Status
Report

The weekly report by the Energy Information
Administration provides data on US petroleum stocks. A reduction in stocks will
show an increase in the demand for petroleum and may be taken as an indicator
of an increase in spending. A low figure may put bullish pressure on oil prices
and oil companies.

1400ET – Treasury Budget

Previous                         $-68.4 B                      Consensus          $-170.0 B

Consensus Range            $-180.0 B to $-165.0 B

The monthly report shows the federal
government’s fiscal deficit or surplus. This gives an indicator of how
government spending is compared with government revenues. The result for July,
released today, is expected to show that the fiscal deficit is increasing. A
figure below consensus will show that either tax revenues are not as high as
expected or spending is higher than expected, this would be bearish for the
markets.