Free Press Releases Logo
 
You are arrow Home arrow News arrow Finance/Money arrow BetOnMarkets view on Interest Rates
Quiz

Free Press Releases

BetOnMarkets view on Interest Rates
Written by Joanna Frendo   
Tuesday, 04 September 2007
Yet another interesting week and indeed month on the stock market is behind
us. Markets continue to crash on bad news and then rally the next day on good
news.

The bad news?
Well theres plenty of that. Barclays bank in the UK was forced to tap the Bank
of Englands emergency lending facility at 1% above the base rate to the tune
of £1.6bn. This has been explained as being due to a technical failure, but
coupled with resignation of the chief of BarCap many people are questioning
the financial stability of major financial institutions. Barclays put their
losses due to investments in debt vehicles at just £75 million, but many in
the city are skeptical that this is all there is. The complicated nature of
these debt vehicles means that it is difficult to know exactly how much
exposure there is.

The Case-Shiller housing numbers pointed to a severe down turn in the US
housing market. The US housing market is usually regional with different
areas experiencing booms and busts at different times. This is the first time
in a while that all 10 cities measured were found to be in decline.

The good news?
The market rallied last week in part due to a letter from Fed Chairman Bernake
to Senator Chuck Schumer. The part that got investors excited is as follows:
"FOMC has stated that it is monitoring the situation and is prepared to act as
needed to mitigate the adverse effects on the economy arising from the
disruptions in financial markets."

It is worth noting however that while these comments may be reassuring, there
is no concrete confirmation that the Fed will act by cutting rates. Bernakes
later statement on Friday kept the same open line, but inferred that a rate
cut was at least possible.

second piece of good news was the Wall Street Journal announcement that George
Bush said that the US government will be outlining initiatives and reforms to
help subprime mortgage homeowners. On closer reading however the deal may not
be as wide ranging as many people interpreted it to be. As ever, more
information and interpretation will come out in the wash.

NFP data will headline next week, but jobless claims will also be a heavy
announcement particularly as the FOMC inferred it will be paying close
attention to very recent data. Aside from a surprise rate cut from the US,
the main action next week will come from European interest rates with both
the MPC and ECB making rate announcements. The MPC are a racing certainty to
announce no change, but the ECB could still surprise. They too are expected
to keep rates on hold, but there is still a chance that they might upset
Sarkozy with a rate hike.

Most traders who were away on vacation and those who sold in May (as the old
adage goes) were coming back as it was coming up to labor-day last week. This
infusion of more cash can create two situations:
1) It could prop up the market as there will be more buyers, who didnt suffer
the losses of the month of August.
2) More sellers as rather than going long, they will short the market and
increase the market fall.

This could present the markets with a further injection of volatility which
could be profitable for the short term trader. For that you might want to use
an up and down play on the sp500 over 11 days, and 45 points each way, which
returns around 12%ROI. Alternatively you could make a no rate cut play and
place a no touch above the previous highs on the S&P500 due to expire before
the next FOMC interest announcement on the 16th.

Most traders who were away on vacation and those who sold in May (as the old
adage goes) were coming back as it was coming up to labor-day last week. This
infusion of more cash can create two situations:
1) It could prop up the market as there will be more buyers, who didnt suffer
the losses of the month of August.
2) More sellers as rather than going long, they will short the market and
increase the market fall.

This could present the markets with a further injection of volatility which
could be profitable for the short term trader. For that you might want to use
an up and down play on the sp500 over 11 days, and 45 points each way, which
returns around 12%ROI. Alternatively you could make a no rate cut play and
place a no touch above the previous highs on the S&P500 due to expire before
the next FOMC interest announcement on the 16th.

 
< Prev   Next >
7mistakes

Sponsored Links

ebook