Forex Daily

It was announced this week that the largest US bank, Citigroup, has launched an online trading platform which is aimed at retail investors and institutional dealers. The platform has initially been released in the US, and wil be rolled out to the rest of the world over the coming months.

Citigroup and the Copenhagen based Saxobank have developed the CitiFX Pro platform which is based on the successful Saxotrader. The new platform will offer traders over 130 currency pairs with streaming prices, news and one click trading.

It’s not only the dollar/pound/euro that are struggling. Yesterday saw the Czech Crown reach a one month low as news spread that the government and central bank had done a deal which aims to curb the gains in currency. The deal includes freezing any privatisation income and not converting it from Euros, this also includes European subsidies.

The Czech Crown did appreciate by 8.5 between January and March and was the best performer against the Euro. The Crown was at 25.43 to the Euro. yesterday.

There is speculation that the Federal bank will be cutting interest rates in a move to try to stabalise the current market place. There is a great amount of nervousness as the dollar continues to weaken.

Yesterday say huge falls in not only the dollar but the pound, which took the pound to a six day low against the dollar and a new record low against the Euro.

The US is hoping to balance its budget by 2012 under the Democratic Senate. This is a financial challenge for President George W Bush who has already put plans in place to try and balance the US economy.

Bush has already proposed a budget plan involving tax cuts in an effort to stop domestic spend.

The price of oil has risen to record price at an amazing $107 per barrel. Investors are buying oil with a view to protecting themselves against the lowering of the dollar.

Such commodities as gold and oil are proving attractive in the light of the US dollar falling. Friday saw the dollar fall to its lowest in five years following the US employment report figures.

Otec the oil producer are not planning to up the supply rate.

Since the start of 2008 the US has seen an economic slowdown in all regions and market areas including housing and retail. The cost of building materials and higher energy prices are responsible as of course is the credit crunch.

The MPC (Monetary Policy Commitee) keeps the Bank of England interest rates the same at 5.25%. This rate setting comes from thoughts of both market expectation and financial experts for 2008.

The fears of a slowing economy and pressures from inflation have pretty much forced stability on interest rates. The balancing act of inflation and growth will continue and is doing throughout the global economy.

Licensing agreements have been made for Integral Fx Grid 3.0 to now be accessed by Forex brokers who operate Pro Trader and Meta Trader 4, giving direct market figures through the FX grid.
Retail Forex is growing at an alarming rate and the integration of such a trading platform is good news for brokers who wish to diversify.

HSBC announced a loss of $17.2bn on those investements which are linked to the credit crisis, this was much higher than expected. HSBC overall annual profits still went up by 10%. All five of the big UK banks have suffered loss through the credit crisis, although HSBC seems to be the hardest hit.

HSBC Chairman Stephen Green said he thought the years ahead looks uncertain. HSBC did see strong growth in the Asian businesses.