Stocks were generally higher in Asian trade. Australia led the way with a two percent gain, the Nikkei added more than one percent and the Hang Seng was up 0.4%. Bucking the trend was Shanghai which lost 0.6% on the session. European indexes are broadly higher, with the Footsie currently higher by almost 1.4% and the Dax up a bit more than one percent. US stock futures are higher by about one percent as I write.

*The Q2 reading of Australia’s GDP was the best in three years with quarter on quarter growth of 1.2%, better than the 0.9% forecast.

*The August reading of China’s manufacturing sector Purchasing Managers Index was up a half point on the month to 51.7, a couple tenths better than forecast.

*The July reading of Germany’s Retail Sales was -0.3%, well below the gain of 0.5% that was expected. That is the second month in a row in which Sales fell 0.3% and the fourth month in five that showed a decline.

*The final August reading of Germany’s manufacturing sector PMI was unrevised at 58.2; the index was 61.2 in July.

*The August reading of Switzerland’s manufacturing sector PMI was down 5.5 points on the month to 61.4, far short of the estimate of 65.8.

*The August reading of the UK’s manufacturing PMI was down 2.6 points on the month to 54.3. It had been expected to fall only a fraction to 57.0.

*US mortgage applications were up 2.7% in the week ended August 27. Applications for purchase were up 1.8% and those for Refi rose 2.8%.

*The Challenger Groups says that in August there were 34,768 job cut announcements, that is down 55% from last August. Announced job cuts last month were the fewest since June 2000.

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Daily S&P Report by Sean Lusk of PFGBest Stock futures turned in a small gain Friday as investors weighed a better than expected reading on consumer sentiment against a disappointing retail sales report. The Mini Dow Futures contract rallied 51 points for the day. That helped the Dow snap a three week losing streak, with the blue chip index finishing up 2.8 percent for the week. It also pulled the Dow out of correction territory, down more than ten percent from their April high.   Read the full story

Factors That Influence Forex Market Trends

The Foreign Exchange or Forex is the largest market today for stock trading, and it is continually growing with more and more people investing in it. However, as promising as this market may be when it comes to profit, like any other trade it can be very volatile as well.

It is therefore important to be familiar with certain factors that influence trends in the Forex market if you are decided in joining this arena. After all, acquainting yourself with the many scenarios that can cause currencies to go up or down can help you a lot in making decisions for when to buy or sell.

There are basically three major factors that affect the Foreign Exchange –a country’s economy, political conditions and market psychology.

Economy

Economic factors are the most basic things that create changes in a country’s currency. When such economic conditions as a budget deficit or surplus is present within a country, there will surely be reactions in the market and values will be reflected on currencies. Other conditions may also include inflation trends, and the general economic growth of the country.

The more prosperous a country’s economy is, the more investors will be able to adhere to doing trade in a more positive attitude. Such indicators as a growth in a nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), employment levels and retail sales among others will basically attract more investors and that nation’s currency value will likely go up.

Political Conditions

Another very important factor that influence trends in Forex, are the conditions of a country’s political sector. This is because political instability or turmoil can generally create negative fluctuations to an economy. But if such instances occur wherein a country may rise above political obstacles, the opposite may occur and the economy may improve.

Events in a region can surely create negative or positive interest among investors for a nation’s currency. And so, such conditions surely influence the trends for demands and prices of a certain currency.

Market Psychology

Of course, the perception of traders and investors will greatly influence the Foreign Exchange market in so many ways. After all, the market is highly dependent on whether or not people would want to invest on a country’s economy in order to determine whether currency prices will go up or down.

For example, such conditions wherein unsettling international events may happen, then under the “flight of quality” rule, people would generally want to look for a safe haven for their investments. Whenever there is a greater demand for a certain country’s economy, then a higher price will be given to buyers and the currency’s value will go up and become stronger.

Other events that contribute to traders’ perceptions may be long-term trends where people invest based on what they have seen for a long period and time, and even economic numbers where people may base their investments depending on what numbers show a greater value.

The market in Foreign Exchange is often unpredictable and fluctuating. Therefore if you are interested in doing trades in this market, make sure that you take the time to be knowledgeable about good strategies that can help you play the game.

But more importantly, keep in updating yourself with the different economic trends in the international scene. After all, this currency market would greatly revolve upon events that would occur in the different countries. Familiarizing yourself with the factors that affect the Forex will surely help you make better decisions.