Market Analysis

Role of Federal Open Market Committee in Monetary Policy of United States

Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is the group which makes the monetary policy for Federal Reserve System. FOMC makes significant decisions about the interest rates and growth of money supply of the United States.

The Federal Open Market Committee supervises the open market operations of the country. The open market operations are selling and buying of United States Treasury securities. It is basically the Federal Reserve committee which makes the key decisions about the growth and the interest rates of the money supply of United States.

The Federal Open Market Committee makes the principal component of national monetary policy of United States. The committee establishes the monetary policy by specifying short term objectives for all those operations that is presently a target level for federal funds rate. This is the rate which the commercial banks charge between themselves for the overnight loans.

The FOMC directs processes undertaken by Federal Reserve System in the foreign exchange markets, although the intervention in the foreign exchange markets is coordinated with US Treasury that has the responsibility for devising the US policies regarding exchange value of dollar.

There are a total of twelve voting members of FOMC, consisting of 7 members of the Board of Governors and 5 presidents of 12 Federal Reserve Banks. The President of Federal Reserve Bank of the New York is considered the permanent voting member of this Committee and presidents of other Reserve Banks serves the one year term as the voting members in rotation which is established by law.

9 of Reserve Bank Presidents have the right to vote one year out of each three, while Presidents of Federal Reserve Banks of Chicago and Cleveland vote in the alternate years. The President of the Federal Reserve Bank is the stable voting member of Committee and the president of other Reserve Banks serve the one year term as the voting members in rotation which is directed by law.

Going by law, the FOMC should meet at least 4 times a year, in the recent years; it needs to meet 8 times in a year. All meetings are attended by members of Board of Governors, the Presidents of 12 Federal Reserve Banks, and also by some of the senior Federal Reserve staff members.

The Federal Open Market Committee was developed by Banking Act 1933. At that time, the committee did not include the voting rights for Board of Governors. The Banking Act of the year 1935 revised all these protocols to include Board of Governors and to resemble the current day FOMC. It was amended in the year 1942 to offer us the present structure of 12 voting members, 7 members of Federal Reserve Board and 12 Federal Reserve Bank presidents.

All of Reserve Bank Presidents, and even those who’re currently voting as FOMC members, must attend the committee meetings. He should participate in the discussions and contribute to the assessment committee of the policy and economy options. The committee meets 8 times in a year, approximately once each 6 weeks.

Forex Trading Articles

Forex Trading – Make Money In The World’s Markets!

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Foreign exchange trading or forex trading involves speculations regarding betting on one currency over another. There are a number of factors that affect the foreign exchange market from a country’s sovereign status to inflation figures and unemployment conditions in a nation. The multitude of dynamics operating in the market makes it both exciting and risky as a trading option.

Attractions of the Forex Trading Markets:

* You can trade in the forex markets 24 hours a day over the phone or online.
* It is an Over-the-Counter exchange; there is no exchange acting as counterparty for each trader. So, you have direct trades between two parties.
* Forex markets have very high liquidity, as trading volumes are tremendous.
* You are presented with the chance to diversify your investment in many countries, as several of them participate in these markets. So, you get to dip your fingers in the world’s pie.
* It is always the time to invest, as you can put your faith in different currencies. If you think the dollar will perform better than the euro, you buy dollars and vice versa. So, you can always participate actively in the markets.
* One of the most interesting aspects of forex trading is that you benefit from leverage. With a small investment, you can speculate with large sums; you only have to pay or receive the margin amounts.

Major Currency Pairs Traded In the Forex Markets

The currency pairs that are actively traded include US Dollar and Euro, Australian Dollar and US Dollar, British Pound and US Dollar, and so on. Liquidity is high in these trades.

Forex Trading Strategies

Strategies vary vastly, as people take opposing sides of the trading platform. This is due to differing perspectives and various market inefficiencies. Financial analysts follow two methods of reading the markets – the fundamental and the technical analysis.

* The fundamental analysis reads the bottom and top lines – the country’s exports and imports, Balance of Payments, and Current Account Deficits. Based on the Budgets and other reports, analysts makes predictions regarding market movements.

* The technical analysis uses charts to predict which way the markets are likely to swing. By following various graphs and learning about supports and resistances, breakouts and price charts, you will learn to read which way the markets are headed.

Tips Regarding Strategies:

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* When the FX markets break through resistance levels, it is a sign that they will go up further with the momentum. That is the time to buy. While you can’t time the markets by waiting for them to bottom out, it is possible to follow certain trends.

* Your trading strategy should take into consideration different market nuances and major traders’ idiosyncrasies. Any rigid system is bound to fail. Robotic trading methods are filled with such loopholes.

* Traders also read the leading and lagging economic indicators to formulate their forex trading strategies. Reading price charts sans these indicators can also help in trading.

There are many financial companies that are members of stock exchanges. They present forex trading with strategies, advices, and market commentary. They also offer commodities, derivatives, and currency trading opportunities enabling people to profit from spreads.

Market Analysis

Day Trading Strategies

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Day trading limits trading to the time period of a single day, 24 hours. A trading day can run at different times, depending on the market. Day traders can potentially engage in international markets based in different time zones, or in the foreign exchange market (forex), which is global and normally open 24 hours a day, 5 days a week.

Day trading means that all positions are closed by the end of the trading day. Potential profits and losses are thus tallied up by the day’s end, giving clarity to your financial position. As traders aim to exit the day on a profit, some positions may be closed before the day has ended.

Potential profits and losses from day trading depend on the financial value of your market position. These positions may be leveraged, which will magnify the volatility of the financial market in question. Although the time period is relatively limited, market movements can be sudden and unexpected, and often occur over a very short time period.

You can use spread betting and CFD trading in order to quickly access the markets. Financial spread betting and CFD accounts are subject to status but they available from a range of providers such as FinancialSpreads.com and IG Index . A common feature of a trading account is a desktop trading platform, although the web based platform is more popular.

As mentioned above, day trading limits your trading executions to a single day. This does not mean, however, that it is easier or more likely to result in profits. Achieving profits and sustaining them over a series of trading sessions is far from easy.

You can test your speculative skills by opening a demo trading account that lets you trade without risking any of your capital. You can refine a strategy through practice and by learning from both your profitable and loss making trades.

Technical Analysis and Fundamental Analysis

Analysis of the underlying financial market can help you refine your trading strategy. Day trading strategies can be developed according to fundamental or technical analysis, the two key types of market analysis.

Fundamental analysis depends on the belief that external events and factors can determine a market’s movement. Political events, for example, may boost or depress a financial market as traders gain or lose confidence.

In terms of day trading, a fundamental analysis strategy can be aided by regular access to news sources, such as news wires, online newspapers and other news or financial media.

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Technical analysis uses charts and is focussed upon the interpretation of historical price movements. Thus, if a financial instrument, such as a currency pair, has risen or fallen in the past, you may decide it will do so again in the future.

However this is also the key flaw in technical analysis, just because a market has moved in a certain direction in the past that does not mean it will continue to move in that direction.

Spread Betting and CFD trading are financially geared types of trading they carry high levels of risk to your capital and you can lose more than your initial stake. Always trade with capital that you can afford to lose. Before making any trades make sure that you fully recognise the risk when investing with these investment formats. It is important to note that Spread Betting and CFD trading may not be suitable for all investors. Where appropriate, seek independent advice.

General Investing

Types Of Investment Bonds

There are many types of investment bonds in the market. Each type of investment bond has its own feature, which make them unique. It is very important to know the type of investment bond featured benefits. If an investment bond feature benefits the investor, then the investment has lower risk, so as the yield, and its price should be higher.

In the other way round, If an investment bond feature benefits the issuer, then the investment has higher risk and yield, and its price should be lower. Therefore, as an investor, once we know who benefits from the feature, then we stand a better investment position whether to pay more or less for the type of investment bond before investing. Below are some of the most common bonds in the market.

Government bonds – are issued by the monetary authority of a country. At the time of issue, government bonds have maturity period from as short as one year to as long as 20 years.

Corporate bonds – are issued by corporations, mainly bought and sold by private and public institutions. They offer limited interest from retail investors.

Secured bonds – are backed by some specified assets such as mortgages or account receivables for investors to be convinced to park with their money. For example, a mortgage backed secured bond bundles mortgage, and then sells investors the right to receive the payments that consumers make on those mortgage loans.

Unsecured bonds – or sometimes called debentures are the most commonly issued type of investment bond. Although it may sound risky, they are generally not. They are backed by the issuer’s credit quality. In general, the higher the issuer’s credit quality, the higher the chance the borrower will make the payment to investors as promised. Therefore, the investor’s risk is reduced. Debentures are issued by high credit quality corporations and institutions, and they are often more highly rated than secured, asset backed investment bonds.

Convertible bonds – are hybrid investment which contains a bond and a stock. If an interest rate risen, the bond will fall in value. However, investor can still benefit from the risen stock price by converting it to common stock. If an investor choose not to exercise the convertible, the investor can benefit from the bond’s interest income until the its maturity. These types of investment bond is suitable for investors with low risk profile, and seek for regular income with downside protection against falling share prices. Convertible bonds rate of return is lower than non-convertible bonds.

High yield bonds – as the name suggested, pay higher interest rates to investors. This types of investment bonds’ grade is lower, and are issued by emerging market economies such as those good companies which fallen on bad economy times. Therefore, they are riskier than investment graded bonds.

Zero-coupon bonds – pay no coupon interest during the tenure of the bond. But, the coupon interest is accumulated and paid in one lump sum at the time of maturity. This types of investment bonds are normally sold at a discount.

Floating-rate bonds – or name floaters, is a type of investment bond which periodically adjust the coupon interest rates base on the current market interest rates. If the market interest rates risen, the coupon interest rate will be adjusted to higher. If the market interest rates fallen, the coupon interest rate will be adjusted to lower.

Callable bonds – is riskier and offer a higher rate of return. The issuers have the right to call back the bond anytime and repay its debt before maturity. This occasion normally happens when interest rates fall, the issuers will call back the bond and reissue another bond at a lower rate of interest.

Forex Trading Articles

Forex Fundamentals

Forex trading or currency trading is one of the most popular of a series of concepts in the business world today. It allows companies to operate throughout the world, because it eliminates limitations caused by different countries with different currencies. Many experts agree that the currency market is greater than any stock exchange with more liquidity.

The first thing to note in the forex market is currency prices. In currency market there are two prices which one should look for, namely the offer price and selling price. The second thing to note is that which thing doesn’t suit you, the merchant, but in favor of the corridor, because that’s how he makes his money. The price is what you pay if you want to buy that currency pair.

Take the GBP / USD as an example, say you have US dollars but you think that the pound will strengthen against the U.S. dollar, which means that the letter of the two currencies will go up to a graph. In trade, you will be buying the pound now at a lower rate (and by definition, the sale of U.S. dollars) so you can sell it later at your (hopefully) higher rate. And because the pound is the base currency and controls the direction of trade, to buy the pound means to buy the currency pair. Such a trade opening is called a long quotation position or long position.

Now, we take exactly the opposite: it is what you pay if you want to sell, or short the currency pair. Following the example of the GBP / USD, say you have GBP and you think that the U.S. dollar will strengthen against the pound, rather than vice versa. In this trade, you are buying the dollar now (and selling of the pound) to sell later. But remember, it is the base currency that controls the direction of trade. When you buy the currency cross, by definition, is selling the base, i.e. you are selling the currency pair instead of buying. So all signs are reversed, the graphics are placed on the chart and the price of currency pair decrease. But because you sold or shorted the currency pair instead of buying, you want the price drop, because the price of the base currency goes down while the price of the cross is rising. In our example, if short the GBP / USD, you receive a benefit if the price of the pair was down.

Now, calculating the number of points you earn in a short exchange is the same for a long operation. Ignore the purchase or sale price, and subtract the lowest number since the highest. The difference is the amount of your gain. Note, the price is always higher than supply. He has no choice but to buy high and sell low when trading in Forex market. Then the difference between supply and the question is called the expansion, and that is the amount of money that the agent takes as its commission. Yes, that’s all the rider has. Make your benefit in a large volume of transactions instead of huge commissions. Obviously, the smaller the spread, the money you get to stay out of what they do. Spreads are competitive among runners, keeping your margins small is a way to attract customers. And it extends between the most popular currency pairs are generally smaller than those of peers who are not as common on the stock exchange, which is one of the best reasons to keep the “big” as he calls them.