Forex rebates on every trade - win or lose!

WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits fell last week for the third consecutive time, signaling that the labor market may be stabilizing after a worrisome jump in layoffs earlier in the year.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of applications for jobless benefits totaled 316,000 last week, a decline of 4,000 from the previous week.

The third straight drop in claims pushed them down to the lowest level in six weeks and provided evidence that the labor market is not seriously weakening even though the overall economy is slowing.

From the Independent:

Ex-Governor George says Bank deliberately fuelled consumer boom

By Jane Padgham
Published: 21 March 2007

The Bank of England deliberately stoked the consumer boom that has led to record house prices and personal debt in order to avert a recession, the former Bank Governor Eddie George admitted yesterday.

Lord George said he and his colleagues on the Monetary Policy Committee "did not have much of a choice" as they battled to prevent the UK being dragged into a worldwide economic slump by slashing interest rates. And he said his legacy to the current MPC was to "sort out" the problems he had caused.

Lord George, who headed the Bank for a decade from 1993, revealed to MPs on the Treasury Select Committee that he knew the approach was not sustainable. "In the environment of global economic weakness at the beginning of this decade... external demand was declining and related to that, business investment was declining," he said. "We only had two alternative ways of sustaining demand and keeping the economy moving forward - one was public spending and the other was consumption.

"We knew that we were having to stimulate consumer spending. We knew we had pushed it up to levels which couldn't possibly be sustained into the medium and long term. But for the time being, if we had not done that, the UK economy would have gone into recession just as the United States did."

He said he was "very conscious" that stimulating consumer demand could give rise to problems in the future. "My legacy to the MPC, if you like, has been 'sort that out'," he said. Under Lord George's governorship, rates were slashed from 6 per cent in 2001 to 3.5 per cent in 2003, pushing house price inflation above 25 per cent and high street spending growth to its highest since the late-Eighties boom.

In a wide-ranging discussion on the first 10 years of the MPC, Lord George also rejected suggestions that the MPC should target specific concerns such as soaring house prices, arguing that it was vital to take the broader picture of the economy.

Meanwhile, Kate Barker, a current MPC member, said in a speech last night that interest rate changes might become more frequent as the committee tackles volatile energy prices, rising inflation expectations and increasing pricing power. "This is a different kind of uncertainty from worries about demand which have been more usual during my time on the MPC, and I suggest that this may prompt a change in observed behaviour towards more frequent interest rate changes," she told the CBI North East dinner.

and for all you Cable followers, if you had followed my advice about selling $ at about 1.94 just a week or so back, you would now be sitting on a very handsome profit ...... which i would be (am!) inclined to allow to run

Well done cynic - I've been a bit diverted by work and the USD/JPY - neither giving me much of a reward. Never mind, my shedful of MDW has finally come good this morning :))))

I think you'll probably find that some of the longer term strategists on this thread will have been long cable from a fair way south of 1.94, cynic. And those same people will be watching today's price action quite closely for possible first signs of a reversal.

MM,

This is the last weekend that I'll be able to do the PDF trick with the calendar till the week after Easter. If there's still a problem, you'll have to put Plan B into action. Do you have a Plan B?

:o)

mg

Pleased to see MDW coming good for you at last, those two sheds must be bulging :) Unfortunately I was stopped out at 7.5p after holding forever.

Made a complete cock-up yesterday with the $/YEN, shorted as I thought it was falling through the channel and was surprised to see it go back up. Only after studying my chart did I realise the support line was drawn slightly incorrectly and the price didn't even touch it.

Looking a bit healthier today though.

BTW

My rising support line is at 11500 now, if it drops through there it's out of this channel (I think)

You should've gone to Specsavers, Luke.

:o)

Ran over the bloody things wiv me golf trolley :(

Luke
Glad I'm nowhere near you when you're on the water - could make a nasty hole in my dinghy.

mg

I'm not allowed to steer, can't see where i'm going :) And anyway, all you weekend sailors should be banned until you've passed a driving test.

Regards

Luke

Hil, OK, lets see what happens today. I'll blow the dust off Plan B but if you could remain on hot standby for today, that would be good. Where are you off to and what's the snow forecast :)

PS: And don't mention SpecSavers -- you'll cause Seymour's glasses to mist up.

Paradiski La Plagne and Les Arcs, Dezza, and the snow is fresh and soft. 145cm in resort, 275cm up top, -14oC this morning and a considerable avalanche risk.

:o)

PS. Sorry about the bad language, Seymour.

$/Yen really testing the bottom of the channel now. According to the two hourly it should drop through, as long as it aint kidding.

mg .... not nearly as smart as you may imagine ..... our company always has surplus $ income which we have to convert on a monthly basis to ....... with that in mind, it is much less fraught than trying to read micro-movements and similar ...... from memory, the position we took with our February money was not as advantageous as had we just traded on the day we needed the ..... can't remember what we have done about March ...... April I know we sold forward at 1.9450

Forgiven :-)

err, it was kidding :(
US figs spoiling the fun

[17:06 US TECHS: Dollar Index Staging a Short-term Recovery] Boston, March 23.
Yesterday saw the Dollar Index form a bullish engulfing candlestick pattern and
today's price action is confirming that signal as it pushes through the daily
swing point at 83.04. A close above that reference today would be a good
indication that the index is ready to retrace some of the recent decline. The
initial retracement level of the most recent decline is just ahead at 83.31 and
failure to get through there over the next session or two will imply that the
market is still more biased to slip lower.

Economic Data Release Calendar updated for next week with surprisingly little drama this time :)

Afternoon all - back from a wonderful week or so of walking and touring Scotland. Nearly got snowed in too in Braemar, just round the corner from Lizzie's B&B at Balmoral. Wonderful stuff and can't wait to get back there again.

Missed a load on Cable by the looks of things - seem to make a habit of going away at crucial times.

Good to be back though too :-))