Analytics, News, and Forecasts for CFD Markets: currency news — 16-01-2013.

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16.01.2013

19:00

American focus: dollar exchange rate fluctuates

The yen strengthened against the dollar, recording a session with the second rise, after falling by 5.8% last month, sparking criticism from leaders around the world, that the fall in the exchange rate is excessive.

Japan's currency also rose against other currencies, as risk appetite increased, while the shares recovered some of their losses.

The pound fell for a fourth day against the dollar, registering with the longest drop since November, and also lost ground against the euro, as the World Bank has lowered the forecast for global economic growth. Note also that the currency has lost 0.5%, while reducing to $ 1.5986, which is a minimum of 28 November.

It is learned that the forecast reduction was due to the austerity measures, high unemployment, and the low level of confidence in the business, which puts pressure on the economies of developed countries. It is expected that the global economy will grow this year by 2.4%, after rising by 2.3% in 2012.

The euro fell against the dollar, because yesterday the Prime Minister of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Juncker said that the exchange rate is "dangerously high."

Meanwhile, a member of the Governing Board of the European Central Bank Ewald Nowotny said that the current exchange rate of the euro is not a problem for him, and he does not expect that the currency will increase in the long term.

18:20

European stocks close

European stocks were little changed, erasing an earlier retreat for the region’s benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index, as U.S. industrial production climbed and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s earnings topped estimates.

TUI Travel Plc (TT/) gained 3.9 percent after Europe’s largest tour operator said it received an approach from its German majority owner. Anglo American Plc (AAL) dropped 3.1 percent as the African National Congress said South Africa’s government should withdraw the company’s platinum licenses. Societe Generale SA (GLE) lost 2.8 percent as CA Cheuvreux downgraded the French lender.

The Stoxx 600 rose less than 0.1 percent to 286.03 at the close of trading, after earlier falling as much as 0.4 percent.

FTSE 100 6,103.98 -13.33 -0.22% CAC 40 3,708.49 +11.14 +0.30% DAX 7,691.13 +15.22 +0.20%

Economic data today showed U.S. industrial production climbed 0.3 percent in December, for a second month of gains, as demand picked up for capital equipment. That matched the median forecast, after a revised 1 percent November gain, the Federal Reserve report showed.

Confidence among U.S. homebuilders held at the highest level in more than six years in January, adding to evidence that residential real estate will help spur economic growth. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index remained at 47.

Stocks fell earlier as the World Bank cut its global growth forecast for this year to 2.4 percent as austerity measures, high unemployment and low business confidence weigh on economies in developed nations. That’s down from a June forecast of 3 percent, after growth of 2.3 percent in 2012.

TUI Travel rallied 3.9 percent to 292.5 pence after the company said its in early stage talks with TUI AG (TUI1) that “may or may not result in a combination of the two companies.” Shares of TUI AG surged 8.8 percent to 8.05 euros in Frankfurt.

Anglo American, the world’s largest platinum producer, dropped 3.1 percent to 1,901 pence after the ANC called on the South African government to withdraw mining licenses from Anglo’s Amplats unit.

Lonmin Plc (LMI), the third-largest platinum producer, tumbled 5.7 percent to 326.3 pence.

KappAhl AB (KAHL) jumped 17 percent to 5.10 kronor after Sweden’s second-biggest publicly traded clothing retailer reported first- quarter net profit of 115 million kronor ($17.7 million), exceeding analyst estimates of 70.4 million kronor. Sales also topped forecasts.

Societe Generale slid 2.8 percent to 32.54 euros, a second day of losses. Cheuvreux downgraded the French bank to underperform, the equivalent of sell, from outperform.

16:40

Price of oil futures has increased

Oil prices rose today, recording a session with the second increase in a row, as government data showed that U.S. crude inventories fell unexpectedly last week.

Prices rose by 1.2% after the U.S. Energy Department reported that crude oil inventories fell by 0.951 million barrels. Note that, according to analysts reserves had increased by 2.2 million barrels.

Oil reserves were down to the level of 360.3 million in the seven days that ended on January 11. In addition, data showed that oil production in the U.S. rose to 7.04 million barrels a day, which is the highest level since January 1993.

Gasoline inventories rose by 1.91 million to 235 million, while analysts had expected an increase of $ 2.7 million the same time, supplies of distillate fuels, which include heating oil and diesel, rose 1.67 million, making with 132.4 million barrels, which was slightly higher than expected at 1.5 million barrels.

The report also showed that the capacity of refineries dropped to 87.9%, compared to 89.1% last week, the EIA report showed.

Meanwhile, OPEC announced today that oil production in December fell by 465,000 barrels a day to the level of 30.4 million at the same time, OPEC noted that retained its global demand forecast for 2013 demand unchanged.

Also, higher oil prices contributed to a published report on industrial production in the U.S., which showed that in December, production has increased, showing thus the second consecutive monthly increase.

February futures price of U.S. light crude oil WTI (Light Sweet Crude Oil) fell to 94.11 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

February futures price for North Sea petroleum mix of mark Brent fell to $ 110.41 a barrel on the London Stock Exchange ICE Futures Europe.

15:31

U.S.: Crude Oil Inventories, -1

15:15

US: Homebuilder sentiment is at its highest level since 2006

After rising for eight straight months, homebuilder sentiment stayed at 47 in January, missing expectations of a rise to 48.

The index continues to be at its highest level since April 2006.

Conditions in the housing market look much better now than at the beginning of 2012 and an increasing number of housing markets are showing signs of recovery, which should bode well for future home sales later this year,” said Barry Rutenberg, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) in a press release.

“However, uncertainties stemming from last month’s fiscal cliff negotiations contributed to the pause in builder confidence and continuing discussions among policymakers related to spending cuts and the future of the mortgage interest deduction could put a damper on housing demand in the coming months.”

The current sales component of the index stayed at 51 in January. But sales expectations for the next six months fell one point to 49.

The index has been up for eight straight months. A reading of 50 shows that an equal number of builders view the market as good or bad.

The National Association of Home Builders' housing market index is a sentiment index in which respondents rate not just the housing market but also the economy in general.

The index draws on builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months. It also includes builders' expectations of traffic of prospective buyers.

15:00

U.S.: NAHB Housing Market Index, January 47 (forecast 48)

14:30

U.S. industrial production rises slightly more than expected

Industrial production in the U.S. increased by slightly more than expected in the month of December, the Federal Reserve revealed in a report on Wednesday, with increased mining and manufacturing output more than offsetting a sharp drop in utilities output.

The report showed that industrial production increased by 0.3 percent in December following a revised 1.0 percent jump in November. Economists had expected production to edge up by 0.2 percent compared to the 1.1 percent growth originally reported for the previous month.

The Federal Reserve also said capacity utilization inched up to 78.8 percent in December from an upwardly revised 78.7 percent in the previous month. The capacity utilization rate had been expected to edge up to 78.5 percent from the 78.4 percent originally reported for November.