Once again all eyes are on Greece this morning as we are running
the gamut of Greek theater. First we saw the drama unfold during
the painstaking debt crisis resolution and now we’re watching
the comedy of errors that is taking place with misstep after
misstep. Will we eventually see the tragedy? And whom would it end
up being tragic for: the Euro zone or Greece itself.
The G-20 meeting now taking place has essentially been hijacked by
the recent events taking place in Greece and now a series of
additional hurdles must be navigated in order for the Euro zone to
survive in its current form. The first hurdle is tomorrow’s
confidence vote which may end up seeing the current regime ousted,
including the Prime minister Papandreou. This could prove
disastrous as they scramble to form a new coalition and to
determine who is actually in charge. Rumors and false headlines are
now hitting the wires saying everything from Papandreou resigning
to the referendum may be canceled.
This brings us to the second hurdle, should they survive the
confidence vote tomorrow, which is the idea of the referendum on
the bailout. While Greece may have been intending for this vote to
decide on just the bailout, EU leaders have now made it perfectly
clear that this referendum would be over whether or not Greece
wants to remain in the Euro zone. All aid money that Greece was
supposed to receive is now being withheld until this vote.
So there is a much greater possibility that Greece will not be a
member of the euro zone by year- end. Who this hurts more remains
to be seen. The problem of contagion though is starting to rear its
head again as yields in Italy are increasing as they rush to cut
deficits.
This all comes ahead of this morning’s ECB rate decision, the
first under new chief Draghi from Italy. There is some speculation
that he could issue some sort of statement to the effect that the
ECB will be the lender of last resort for the EU or that he could
even go so far as to reduce interest rates. As I mentioned
yesterday, there is a distinct possibility he could do the
latter.
**Edit for breaking news** Draghi cuts interest rates by 25bp!
However, yesterday’s FOMC statement was quite different with
Bernanke lowering the Fed’s economic forecast yet again as
they have been miserably behind the curve. Later in the day in his
speech, he said that QE3 was a potential option which gave the
market hope of the free-money trade being able to continue. Europe
has continued to run with this theme as US dollar weakness is
driving the forex markets this morning, despite all of the risk
emanating for the Euro zone.
On the data front, there isn’t a whole heck of a lot going
on, with the US initial jobless claims expected to show another
400K unemployed. Later this morning ISM Non-Manufacturing figures
are due to be released. Tomorrow’s NFP report is the big one
to watch.
Last night, New Zealand’s unemployment rate ticked higher to
6.6% from an expected 6.4% showing signs that economy is
potentially cooling.
Other than these reports, the focus of the markets will be on what
happens in Greece and how the Euro zone and the world reacts.
Pressure on the Greek PM to withdraw the referendum has to be
immense and whether or not he is even in power next week remains a
mystery.
In the meantime, the anonymous rumors will dominate the internet so
take them with a grain of salt. This could produce very choppy
market action over the course of the next few days, which is a
short-term trader’s dream, but a long-term investor’s
nightmare.
So remember to take what the market gives you and to cut losses
quickly and move on to the next opportunity. With uncertain markets
conditions, one small error could turn into a huge mistake in not
dealt with swiftly!
By Mike Conlon, ForexNews.com
Forex Market Outlook 11/3/11
November 6th, 2011 in Currency Trading, by Michael Conlon
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