Forex rebates on every trade - win or lose!

ever-escalating rents are a serious problem to high streets and the like .... don't care so much about offices, as overall they contribute little to the local economy.
However, as a landlord, it is difficult to refuse market rates when leases come up for renewal.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Labor Department is expected to report this morning that its consumer price index rose 0.6 percent in March, and the core index, which strips out energy and food costs, climbed 0.2 percent.

Last week, the core Producer Price Index came in flat, alleviating some worries about the inflation rate getting too high. A strong inflation reading at the consumer level could rekindle anxiety that the Federal Reserve may need to raise interest rates to curb rising costs.

Retail sales rose in March at the fastest clip in three months, helped by warmer weather and an early Easter.

Analysts cautioned that sales were likely to slow in April, given the recent surge in gasoline prices that will leave consumers with less money to spend on other items.

For March, sales rose by 0.7 percent, the Commerce Department reported Monday. And the government revised its estimate for sales in February from a lackluster 0.1 percent to a stronger 0.5 percent gain.

The March increase, the strongest since a 1.1 percent rise in December, was helped by the fact that Easter came eight days earlier than last year, boosting shopping in March. Warmer weather during the month put consumers in a buying mood after a cold and snowy February.

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The dollar fell further, with the pound extending its gains above the key 2 usd mark, after US inflation figures came in below expectations.

Figures released this afternoon showed US CPI inflation rose 0.6 pct in March from February, while core prices rose just 0.1 pct. Both are slightly below expectations for rises of 0.7 and 0.2 pct respectively.

At 1.38 pm BST, the pound was trading at 2.0045 usd, up from 2.0029 just before the US CPI release, while the euro rose to 1.3562 usd from 1.3541 previously.

The pound touched a high of 2.0061 usd immediately after the release, extending gains following much stronger-than-expected UK CPI data this morning which propelled the currency above 2 usd for the first time since 1992, just before it fell out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.

Oooh weeeee

:o)

Short Cable now - hoping for a decent fall.

i lied! ...... just checked and sold our $ for May at 1.9237 ...... lovely stuff!! ...... if brain had been connected, may have sold forward for 2/3/4 months more, but never mind

Minutes

2.0130 limit :o)

Now I can go for a bubble ;)

cmc and fxcm seem to have quite different prices for cable!

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - China's first quarter economic growth surprised on the upside, but despite investment also pouring in at a faster clip, the relatively stable increases in the consumer price index (CPI), the chief barometer of inflation, were still manageable and helping ease worries of economic overheating on a national level, said Huang Yiping, economist with Citigroup in Hong Kong.

China's gross domestic product (GDP) growth accelerated 11.1 pct year-on-year to 5.03 trln yuan in the first three months, compared with 10.4 pct in the fourth quarter and 10.7 pct in 2006, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

'Most people were expecting something in the mid-tens, and our forecast was 10.7. It's not that significantly far from our number, but psychologically it's above 11 pct, and it could be an important surprise,' Huang told XFN-Asia.

The People's Bank of China had projected first quarter GDP growth of 10.2 pct.

The strong growth figure comes despite tightening measures taken by Beijing, but Huang doubted the central bank would take imminent actions to tighten liquidity.

'I think (monetary authorities) will act, although I doubt they will take immediate action as some are expecting at the moment, but they have already done quite a lot and I think the message is already quite clear in the market,' he said.

When asked if another upward interest rate revision was likely in the first half, he said it was a strong possibility.

'I see one more rate hike. The Chinese like 27 basis points (as a incremental hike),' Huang said.

But he said interest rates would not rise too high anytime soon as inflation was still rising at a reasonable rate.

'If inflation isn't an issue, then why worry about the 11.1 pct GDP growth? But (inflation) has been picking up pace recently. We had 2.7 pct for the first quarter, which could mean that for March it's around 3.2 pct. At that's been picking up quite quickly from 2.7 pct in February,' he said.

He said the main challenge for macroeconomic planners in fostering stable, sustainable economic growth was 'more about the need to control risks in the economy.'

'At the same time the authorities are still probably keen to maintain strong growth. So the difficulty is to find and strike a balance between the two. But you still need strong growth.'

When asked if government planners were happy with continued uneven economic growth between urban and rural regions, and between coastal and inland provinces, he said it remained a lingering concern.

'They are probably not, but at the moment there is no other choice. They always want to balance sources of growth, but in the near term I think for macroeconomic policy makers, I think the top concern should be whether or not that will lead to over-investment or overcapacity,' Huang said.

(1 usd = 7.72 yuan)

Calendar updated as three gifs because I'm using an evaluation copy of some conversion software -- which also explains the spurious exhortations to "purchase" of the left of the gifs . . . must give them the money . . .

Haven't posted much recently, manily cos its such a quite thread generally. Following a good start to my FX trading about a month ago suffered a really bad week when I managed to give up all of my gains plus an awful lot more. It's times like that when you really have to have a good think and work out what went wrong. My conclusions were quite simple; it isn't that I don't understand the mechanics of what drives the FX market, nor is it a lack of TA understanding. Quite simply it came down to discipline and understanding my own trading style.

Anyway I gave myself a good talking to and rather than trying to run big positions, I looked for intraday opportunities where I could trade in, trade out with a minimum of fuss and risk. On the whole it has worked, I often settle for 10, 15 or 20 pips, but two or three times a day it builds up nicely.

The proof is in the pudding (or in the bank) Friday I was able to withdraw money from my trading account rather than topping it up. Hopefully I'll be able to continue in that vein.

I will start posting charts if anyone is interested, I just need to find somewhere to 'host' them.

Harlosh, hope you are ok btw, must get together for another drink soon :)

pth

Was away playing Golf when it reached the magical 50p $ so a bit miffed I didn't get any of it. Mind you, I got minced by trying to short it just before I went so very pleased I was stopped out (although it was a hefty loss - it could have been ginormous).

Like you pt - have been having a good hard look at my trading style/methods and, when intermittent day jobbie type stuff doesn't get in the way I will be back using my new, superduper technique which, funnily enough, involves scalping points rather than looking at the "big bang".

Currently trying to scalp a few - long from 19975 - but longer term will probably be short - all the longer term charts seem to scream it

Closed for 30 points
[EDIT - obviously way too soon :( - but am I bovvered??]

my "guru" still reckons 2.07 will be hit before true longer term strengthening of $ ..... that said, there are bound to jumps back and forth ..... for no real logical reason, suspect will look for +/-1.97 before selling our June $

cynic
So, your guru says 20700 - another 700 points to go.

Hmmmmmmmm, interesting.

mg

Overnight or tomorrow will likely prove me wrong. But...........I'm not sure this is ready to short yet. The last 4-5 days has seen it working off its 'over-boughtness' and is consolidating quite nicely without shedding too many pips. I find it hard to believe that having spent all this time reaching the magical figure it is going to drop back in a hurry. Additionally, I think it will have another go at 20150 and possibly beyond. After this pregnant paws, whatever it does next will likely be in a rush. If it does continue to dip slowly, my chart offers support at 19985 & 19950.

Anyone trading usa/cad?

Managed to get that sorted out eventually, phew.

Certainly been something of a day on Cable. Found support at 19950 and I must admit I didn't think it was going to get back through 20000 in a hurry, but then it generally proves me wrong!

The rising trend line offers support just above 20000 now and the previous support at 19950 is currently at 19965 and rising. MACD is turning up also on the 2hrly.

Dare I say it's beginning to look like a long again?

pth