Dow Jones Erupts Again

Dow Jones staged a remarkable 200 point rally yesterday with a strong belief that US fed will again cut the interest rates by 50 basis points in October. Dollar also got support from stock rally. Crude oil also cools down a bit but still hovering around US$80/Barrel. US economy is still not out of deep problems and hence dollar investors are rushing to buy into riskier assets of emerging markets like India, Taiwan, Singapore, HongKong, driving valuations of assets(stocks) in these markets to absurd levels. Well so far so good, if US fed listens to market participants and don't follow economics rationale, then we may be heading for another rate cut and further inflated asset prices.

Markets Fall Again

Markets have now again started showing signs of weakness with Dow Jones falling 280 points in yesterdays trading session with renewed fears of sub-prime mortgage defaults and bankruptcy among large hedge funds and financial institutions, also aiding the fall is low consumer confidence among U.S.consumers.
Asian stocks are also trading lower on the back of weak signals from U.S. markets. U.S.Fed now has to take several rate cuts this year so as to restore market and consumer confidence.
It seems worst hasn't come out from U.S.sub-prime mortage mess. And till then stocks will be hugely volatile. This credit crack can have potentially a drag on world economic growth which so far has been very good.
Uncertainty will prevail till then in the financial markets.
Buying in sharp falls in sectors and stocks with the strongest of business fundamentals will pay eventually. Yen is gaining strength against the dollar and is trading at 114 against it, it seems the yen carry trade un-winding is still underway and thus causing volatility in the financial system.

Some Stability In The Dow Jones Is Good News

Dow Jones closed 233 points higher on the back of some bottom fishing by market players. Dollar also climbed to 114.20 against the Yen, after falling continously for the past few trading sessions amid yen carry trade un-winding. History is evident that volatile currency movements can play havoc with stock and commodity markets, as seen this time as well. So keeping a very close watch on important currencies is very much desired if one wants to succeed in financial markets.

Yen Carry Trade Unwinding

For two days running, stocks across the world are bearing the brunt of a credit crack that first started in U.S. sub-prime market and now has spread to other credit instruments. This collateral damage has prompted hedge funds, PE funds, large financial institutions to pay back the capital that they have borrowed from Japan very cheaply. With the losses mounting on their mortgage books, they will now have to withdraw from risky assets like stocks and return the borrowed money and this is causing Yen to strenghten against the Dollar, now trading at 114.32 after touching a high of 113.55 against the Dollar. Serious downward stock price adjustments had happened in the last few days, dow jones has re-traced all the gains it had made during this fiscal year and all other emerging markets are also follwoing the suit. For the first time in the last four years, serious credit squeeze is happening and this is not good for assets like stocks. Only selective buying can be made in stocks which are having the strongest of fundamentals and business momentum. Commodities are also correcting and this is good news for commodity user industry and hence to some extent for Inflation.

Markets Are Down Again

Dow Jones fell again by 200 points yesterday and asian markets are follwing the downward trend early this morning.
Yen is trading at 117.20 against the U.S.dollar as of now, this is also a cause of concern as this will further increase the yen carry trade unwinding by levearaged players and insitutions and hence pulling out of funds from riskier assets like stocks and commodities.
Volatility is back again in the markets and is a cause of concern for those who are planning to invest. Investors hate huge uncertainity surrounding the markets and thus postpone their buying decision and prefer to park their money in safe assets like U.S.dollar and Goverment securities thus making stock markets deprieve of much required funds.
Unless and untill this nervousness fades away, investors will not be in a rush to buy riskier assets like stocks.

Dow Jones is Down Again Sharply

On August 03,2007 Dow jones fell sharply again by 280 points, thus retracing all the past few days gain in one trading session indicating that worst is not yet over for global equity markets.
To tread cautiously is the name of the game.
Watching carefully the Credit Market in the U.S. will be extremely useful in knowing future course of action by big players like Investment banks, Pension funds, Mutual funds, PE firms, Insurance companies, Hedge funds etc, in the financial markets.