Investors have one less thing to worry about, the US government shutdown is over. President Trump has signed the stoppage bill and kicked the can until the Feb 8th. The drama could potentially return at a later stage (February 8) and the dollar index would see an impact of this.
The BOJ kept its monetary policy steady and this kept the bulls in check. However, this doesn’t mean that the Yen bulls have gone to sleep. The devil is in detail, the bigger message from the BOJ is that there is no need to further loosen up the monetary policy. And if this is the scenario which the BOJ is looking at, then surely the next move would be to start following up the footsteps of other central banks such as the European Central Bank. The ECB started their tapering process last year and it is highly likely that the ECB would be able to wind up the tapering process this year. The BOJ is comfortable with the concept that the price has stopped falling and this is the area of their focus.
While the Sterling-Dollar pair is still recording its best level and marching towards 1.40, the EU has made it clear that the U.K. will never be given a chance to cherry pick the products that they desire. Theresa May hasn’t shown her plan for the financial sector after Brexit, but her team hopes that the UK would get fuss access to the EU. The businesses over in the UK are seeking clarity and the government is constantly failing to provide that. This dampens the business growth perspective and their ability to initiate any measure to stimulate the growth in the country.
Trade wars are highly unproductive but surely Trump doesn’t think that way. By adopting this strategy the message is clear that the US leader has no concerns in achieving global peace and growth. The trade war is on, the president of the US increased the duty on solar panels. Foreign solar panel producers could shrug this off by focusing on other markets while the price of solar over in the US would rise considerably, putting renewable energy at disadvantage.
Solar panels have been the area of growth. Slamming a 30% import tax on the solar panel is going to create more obstacles and unfortunate circumstances for Americans because nearly 80% parts are foreign imports. President Trump notched up the trade war by increasing duties on imported washing machines by nearly 50% and the policy is aimed to dent Samsung and LG’s presence in the local market.
The Euro-dollar pair is showing its strength against the dollar ahead of the European Central Meeting which is on Thursday. The upcoming ZEW survey for Germany would provide further evidence of strength the improvement in the current and expected situation. The German ZEW number provided a lot of tailwind during the third quarter of 2017 for the German GDP growth.
Netflix has flexed its muscles last night and the company has shown its investors that the competition doesn’t bother them. From their earnings, it shows they are the king of the entertainment business. The firm is execution on its plans which is yielding impressive growth. Netflix is taking an advantage of cheap money to fund its projects, however, if their access to capital is restrained, it could have problems
Regulators over in the UK has sent a clear message to Fox News owner, Rupert Murdoch that they are not ready for this kind of takeover bid. The memo was clear that the deal is not in the interest of the public because this gives Fox News owner more control over them UK media. Fox’s stock is loved among analyst with 13 buy ratings, 9 hold and 1 sell. Over the year, insiders have built their position by 0.32%. Among its peers, the stock trades at 12% premium (over a 2-year time frame). As for sky, it isn’t the most famous company with buy ratings, only 6 analysts have a buy rating and most of them are waiting for the takeover situation to be resolved. Hence the hold rating is 12. In comparison with its peer, it is trading at 6% premium.