Why is my gold not so shiny?
The spot price of gold is trading lower into the afternoon on the failure of Greek political negotiations to solidify an agreement, increasing the possibility of Greece leaving the euro zone.
Europe
Best of the Monday web
Global markets continued their slide as investors digested more negative news out of Greece in spite of measures introduced by the Chinese government to stimulate the economy. Today, we discuss the prospect of a Greek exit from the euro, Baidu’s move into the smartphone market, and the no-good-very-bad month for casino stocks.
Game plan for trading the euro zone GDP releases
Last week the euro zone dominated the headlines and traders can expect more of the same with euro zone countries releasing GDP numbers on May 15.
Morning coffee brief
U.S. futures are pointing much lower in electronic trading this morning, as trader digest the fallout from JPMorgan’s $2 billion trading loss. The U.S. markets, along with India and other emerging markets, will be under pressure as they work through the slew of headlines over the weekend.
Best of the Friday Web
American markets ended up shrugging off JP Morgan’s (JPM, quote) surprise announcement of a $2 billion trading loss, trading roughly flat on the day. Elsewhere around the world, other than more poor Chinese data, markets were relatively quiet compared to the heavy volume of news over the past few weeks pertaining to Europe.
Trading the sentiment change in the euro
Greek politics are taking their toll on the euro this week. In fact the euro has been hanging around a three month low on the uncertainty of the Greek government elections, not to mention the euro zone is now struggling with a weaker China.
Best of the Thursday web
Markets halted a prolonged skid on Thursday, as news from Europe was today mercifully limited. However, Chinese trade data and Indian currency intervention may give traders pause about the health of the world economy.
Flash note: Possible upside surprise on Greek coalition
The socialist leader of Greece’s Pasok party and former finance minister Evangelos Venizelos may be close to forming a coalition government.
Why the risk funds may be better signals than trades
We’re not huge fans of “risk on” / “risk off” explanations of global market movements around here. Not only is it simplistic to reduce all the factors that play into the rise and fall of asset classes to a simple binary proposition, but it looks like even its limited viability is evaporating fast.