Forex Daily

The US House of Representatives yesterday rejected a 700 billion dollar rescue plan for the US financial system, sending share prices crashing particularly in UK and Europe but also hit other major markets. Asian shares have also taken a nose dive in early trading today.

As news of the rescue plan failure hit Wall Street, the Dow Jones saw its largest daily points fall in history and a statement by the US Treasury urged for a new deal to be agreed. It is unlikely that a new deal will be brokered till the weekend, with Congress not meeting again till Thursday, so a week of unrest on the stock markets is likely.

Bradford & Bingley today announced that it will be cutting 370 jobs, as the financial crisis continues and a sharp downturn in the mortgage markets. The redundancies will affect its sales team that deal specifically with mortgage brokers and the 50 remaining mortgage advisors that are based in branches.

The bank’s announcement has fuelled speculation that Bradford & Bingley will be the next financial institution to suffer because of the credit crisis.

Bradford & Bingley was quick to add that it has no plans to close any of its High Street stores and will be taking on an additional 70 staff to deal with collecting payments off customers that are behind on their repayments.

The dollar lost over 1% against the yen today as investors raised yet more concerns about the US Government bailout plan. The US government plans a $700bn plan to bailout banks and analysts and investors alike are sceptical whether it will help the credit crisis.

The dollar was 1.1% lower versus the yen on Monday, after a two week high against the currency on Friday last week. The euro also took a 0.5% loss against the yen, lowering it to 154.61 yen.

The stock markets today took another big hit following the news that one of the largest US Banks Lehman Brothers was filing for bankruptcy. The European markets started for the second day in a row, whilst Asian stocks fell by over 5% after being on holiday on Monday.

The US market also took a thump, having its worst trading day since the tragedies of 9/11. Asian Central banks have tried to stabilise the markets, with the Banks of Japan, Australia and India all pushing money into the banking system.

The US dollar slumped today, boosting the Yen to its largest daily gain in nearly six years as concern mount over the strength of the US financial system. The slump came after the fourth largest US bank Lehman Brothers failed to secure a rescue deal over the weekend and today announced it will be filing for bankruptcy.

The euro stalled from making large gains against the dollar, as investors worry that the US financial problems will filter into Europe.

The dollar today took the initiative and posted a one year high against the euro, whilst the New Zealand dollar fell behind on news of a big interest rate cut.

The New Zealand dollar dropper over 1 percent against the US dollar and nearly 2 percent against the yen; this dip came after the New Zealand Central Bank lowered its interest rates for the second successive time.

Currency shares in Europe and Asia steadied today, as the US government stated it was bailing out troubled mortgage lenders Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The US Treasury announced the takeover yesterday, before the currency markets opened. The European and Asian markets were bolstered by the news and sore a rise of over 3 percent.

The two mortgage lenders, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are rumoured to finance or guarantee around half of the mortgages in the US, and have seen huge losses since the US housing crash. A recent report has shown that nearly 9 percent of mortgage customers in the US had fallen behind in their payments or were facing repossession.

Today (Monday 1st September) sore the dollar extend its gains against the Sterling, pushing it to its lowest level against the dollar for over two years. The Sterling’s dip came as the British finance minister, Alistair Darling warned of a worsening economy.

The market also braced itself for the hurricane off the Gulf of Mexico, which has halted oil production in the region, pushing the price of oil higher.

The sterling is set to face more losses, as the US market is closed today due to a public holiday. Trading in New York will resume on Tuesday.