[U][B]Fundamental Headlines[/B][/U]
• [I]Housing and Job Markets Remain Weak[/I]– Wall Street Journal
• [I]EU Sharply Cuts Economic Forecast[/I]– Wall Street Journal
• [I]Surprise OPEC cut pushes oil above $100[/I]– Financial Times
• [I]Lehman’s Fuld Faces Pressure to Land Deal After Drop[/I] – Bloomberg
• [I]RK Capital Hedge Funds Lost Up to 30% in August as Metals Fell[/I] – Bloomberg
• [B]GBPUSD [/B]– The growth outlook remains bleak for the U.K. economy as National Institue for Economic and Social Research estimates GDP to have fallen 0.2% in the three months to August. The NIESR also revised their previous growth estimate lower to -0.1% from 0.1%, signaling that economic activity may continue to deteriorate for the rest of the year. Meanwhile, the trade deficit improved slightly as the headline figure slipped to GBP -7.66B from GBP -7.68B in June. The depreciation in the British pound has helped export demands to reach its highest level in two years, which may help to support economic growth for Europe’s second largest economy. For more news and resources, visit our GBP/USD Forum.
• [B]USDJPY[/B] – The Japanese leading index improved slightly to 91.6 from 91.3 in June, but failed to meet expecations of a rise to 91.9. As a result, the lack of improvement in the world’s second largest economy has led the Cabinet Office to hold a dour outlook as they noted that ‘the chances of a recession is high’ for Japan. Meanwhile, the current account surplus narrowed for the fifith consecutive month in July as import costs increased on the back of higher energy costs. On a lighter note, wholesale inflation cooled for the first time in almost a year as the index slipped to -0.1% in August. The unexpected decline came as a result of falling commodity prices, and should help to ease inflationary concerns for the Japanese economy. Discuss this and your trade ideas in the USD/JPY Forum.
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