How is that for a month!   As the coronavirus pandemic continues, many more hundreds of thousands of people are infected.  Only a month ago we were talking in terms of hundreds of thousands of people infected with COVID-19, which has now ballooned out to over three million and more than 225,000 dead.  Economies have been brought to a grinding halt as governments around the world have taken unprecedented steps to lockdown their cities etc to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. 

Financial markets have been rattled and the price of oil has plummeted as demand as all but dried up.  The extreme volatility we have seen in markets has subsided a little but remains above average.  Most major central banks have taken emergency action to cut rates (some repeatedly) and increase stimulus measures.

All markets and currencies experience highs and lows from time to time. But there’s almost no modern precedent for the global economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak. As the pandemic sweeps through nations around the world and forces normal business operations to, more or less, grind to a halt, countries are experiencing their own local economic slowdowns, with the larger global economy headed for a deep recession.

The main issue in December was the British election and its possible impact on Brexit plans.  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson returned to Downing Street with a big majority after the Conservatives easily accounted for Labour in its traditional heartlands.  Mr Johnson said it would give him a mandate to "get Brexit done" and take the United Kingdom out of the European Union next month. Earlier in the month, the U.S. Federal Reserve’s (Fed) Federal Open Market Committee had its two-day policy meeting, keeping interest rates steady, as widely expected.  Unlike many previous meetings, the decision to keep rates unchanged was unanimous. After three straight interest rate cuts this this year, the Fed kept the funds rate in a target range of 1.5%-1.75%. More importantly, the Fed indicated that no action is likely next year while there is persistently low inflation.

Themes to watch in 2019: Mixed Bag in Asia, What Next for the Fed? Deal or No Deal? Critical Times for Britain

Economic calendars lay out the dates and potential impact of scheduled national and international events that are likely to affect the price and popularity of given markets or assets. Because certain types of events have been known to impact trade in significant, predictable ways, the nature and date of each event on an economic calendar can be used as a trading indicator to maximize profit potential.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average moves to an all-time high, the Federal Reserve hikes rates again, and the US dollar finishes the month stronger on the back of the Federal Reserve's outlook for another rate hike in December, three more next year, and one increase in 2020.  Central banks and trade talk continued to dominate the markets and there remain many loose ends as United States and China continue their ‘tit for tat’ antics in trade talks, and more recently with Canada and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). 

The month of August saw an increase in volatility and some reasonably strong movies in a large group of currency pairs.  Central banks and trade talk continued to dominate the markets and there remain many loose ends still to be attended to in trade between the United States and China. 

The month of July was a relatively quiet month for many currency pairs with a few isolated incidents of sharp moves in the yen, gold and a strong rise in U.S. equities.  Central banks and trade talk continued to dominate the markets and there remain many loose ends to be attended to in trade.

If you’re a forex trader, you face more reports, indicators, and surveyed data than you probably know what to do with. While there is plenty of data that traders should keep an eye on, the consumer confidence index represents especially important. To help you further understand the consumer confidence index, the following explains what it is and what it entails.

Though many of us have heard of the unemployment rate, few actually know what it is, what it means, and why it’s important to forex and currency traders. For a trader, the unemployment rate is incredibly important, as it—in its own way—reveals something about the current state of a nation’s economy. The following looks at how the unemployment rate can impact currency prices, and gives three examples of when that will likely be the case.