Yen

Non-bombastic look at the price action and speculative positioning, with the hope of anticipating next week's developments.

After valiantly defending the 121 level, moments ago what is perhaps the most important carry currency for the US stock market dipped below and is now trading at fresh lows not seen since May. What happens next: "A break below that point will further imply that the decline since June isn’t actually corrective at all but rather something more impulsive. If this is true then the next likely target should be down at ~118.96; a 1.618 extension from the June high."

Today's market battle will be between those (central banks) "hoping" that a Greek deal over the weekend is finally imminent (which on one hand looks possible after a major backpeddling by Tsipras - who may never have wanted to win the Greferendum in the first place - yesterday in Brussels and today during his speech in the Euro Parliament, but on the other will be a nearly impossible sell to Greece as any deal terms will be far harsher than the deal offered by the Troika 2 weeks ago and will have no debt reduction), and those who finally noticed that the Chinese central planners have effectively lost control.

More than even the unfolding "chaos theory" pandemonium in Greece, market watchers were even more focused on whether or not China and the PBOC will succeed in rescuing its market from what is now a crash that threatens social stability in the world's most populous nation. And, at the open it did. The problem is that as the trading session progressed, the initial 8% surge in stocks faded as every bout of buying was roundly sold into until every other index but the benchmark Shanghai Composite turned sharply red.

What investors will focus on in the week ahead

Initial conditions matter when contemplating impact of Greek referendum

While this Greek saga unfolds, very few are looking at China

This is the question that astute investors are forced to ask themselves these days. No reasonable person believes that a system of ever-expanding debt can resolve painlessly. It simply cannot happen... not, at least, until 2+2 stops equaling four. But the international money system, while deeply interconnected, can implode in sections. In fact, it’s highly unlikely that it will crash as a single unit. So, if you have significant moneys to invest, you end up coming back to our question: Who will be the last to crash?

At the open, Europe looked in the abyss, and with no help coming from China, it did not like what it saw: And then the answer came from the Swiss National Bank, which stepped in to prevent the collapse just as Europe was opening. Because seemingly out of nowhere, a tremendous bid came in to life the EURCHF, buying Euros (against the CHF and the USD) and selling Europe's last left safety currency. We now know that it was the SNB, the same central bank which is the proud owner of well over $1 billion in Apple stock.

Spot the glaring "oversight" it in the BIS map below which is a snapshot of the original BIS release. Hint: Dollar zone in Green... Euro zone in blue...

What to expect next week.

A look at the psycholgoy of traders as reflected in the price action ahead the new week which promises to be eventful.

"I suspect in the next year or two we will see some kind of major, major problems in the world financial markets. I would suspect when we have this correction, it's going to cause central banks to panic... they will print and spend and borrow, but there comes a time when people are just going to say 'We don’t want to play this game anymore'. And at that point, the world has serious, serious problems because there's nothing to rescue us. I suspect the next economic/financial collapse will be the one they can't deal with."

Trying to make sense of the global capital markets.