Futures Fundamental Analysis

By Pedro Nicolaci da Costa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve looks set to embark on a hotly debated second round of monetary easing next week, but much uncertainty surrounds the scope and pace of bond purchases by the U.S. central bank. Market expectations have centered around an initial commitment to buy at least $500 billion in Treasury debt over five months in an effort to spur lending and support an economic recovery that is too weak to tame high unemployment. Further muddying the outlook, Fed officials have offered conflicting signals on their policy predilections in recent weeks, with some pushing for a very aggressive stimulus and others highly skeptical of any additional accommodation. This makes it harder to gauge where the ultimate consensus will settle, though most analysts assume Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's dovish leanings will carry the day. Here are some ways in which next week's decision might play out: $500 BILLION OVER FIVE MONTHS, HINTS OF MORE This is the base-case scenario for financial...

Cautious remains a present feature in the stock markets around Asia as the dollar gained value, pushing commodities down. Markets seam to undertake a correctional movement on the short term especially since data supports the decline. South Korea’s economy grew less than expected in Q3 while inflation in Australia rose less than estimated. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell today by 1.1% to 129.03 at 15:17 in Tokyo. Nikkei 225 Nikkei 225 rose today by 0.10% or 9.65 points closing at 9387.03 after the dollar rose against the yen giving support to the Japanese exporting companies. From 225 shares, 84 advanced, 122 declined and 19 unchanged. Sectors leading the incline were consumer goods that gained 14.90 points and the industrials that gained 7.76 points, while the sector that led the decline was health care which lost 6.92 points. Among the shares that advanced TDK Corp topped the list by rising 3.16% closing at 4740 yen, followed by Softbank Corp which rose by 1.44%...

Cautious remains a present feature in the stock markets around Asia as the dollar gained value, pushing commodities down. Markets seam to undertake a correctional movement on the short term especially since data supports the decline. South Korea’s economy grew less than expected in Q3 while inflation in Australia rose less than estimated. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell today by 1.1% to 129.03 at 15:17 in Tokyo. Nikkei 225 Nikkei 225 rose today by 0.10% or 9.65 points closing at 9387.03 after the dollar rose against the yen giving support to the Japanese exporting companies. From 225 shares, 84 advanced, 122 declined and 19 unchanged. Sectors leading the incline were consumer goods that gained 14.90 points and the industrials that gained 7.76 points, while the sector that led the decline was health care which lost 6.92 points. Among the shares that advanced TDK Corp topped the list by rising 3.16% closing at 4740 yen, followed by Softbank Corp which rose by 1.44%...