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Advantages of the Forex Market
What are the advantages of the Forex Market over other types of investments?
When thinking about various investments, there is one investment vehicle that comes to mind. The Forex or Foreign Currency Market has many advantages over other types of investments. The Forex market is open 24 hrs a day, unlike the regular stock markets. Most investments require a substantial amount of capital before you can take advantage of an investment opportunity. To trade Forex, you only need a small amount of capital. Anyone can enter the market with as little as $300 USD to trade a "mini account", which allows you to trade lots of 10,000 units. One lot of 10,000 units of currency is equal to 1 contract. Each "pip" or move up or down in the currency pair is worth a $1 gain or loss, depending on which side of the market you are on. A standard account gives you control over 100,000 units of currency and a pip is worth $10.
The Forex market is also very liquid. When trading Forex you have full control of your capital.
Many other types of investments require holding your money up for long periods of time. This is a disadvantage because if you need to use the capital it can be difficult to access to it without taking a huge loss. Also, with a small amount of money, you can control
Forex traders can be profitable in bullish or bearish market conditions. Stock market traders need stock prices to rise in order to take a profit. Forex traders can make a profit during up trends and downtrends. Forex Trading can be risky, but with having the ability to have a good system to follow, good money management skills, and possessing self discipline, Forex trading can be a relatively low risk investment.
The Forex market can be traded anytime, anywhere. As long as you have access to a computer, you have the ability to trade the Forex market. An important thing to remember is before jumping into trading currencies, is it wise to practice with "paper money", or "fake money." Most brokers have demo accounts where you can download their trading station and practice real time with fake money. While this is no guarantee of your performance with real money, practicing can give you a huge advantage to become better prepared when you trade with your real, hard earned money. There are also many Forex courses on the internet, just be careful when choosing which ones to purchase.
by Heather Redmond http://www.earnforex.com/articles/advantages_of_the_forex_market.php

Go Stock Trade . com Primer: What is the stock market all about?
Thousands of people who have money in any type of account for their retirement can consider ourselves participating in the Stock market. But have you pondered about the functionality of how this interesting market works? Imagine being at a regular auction, where instead of nice bits such as cars and antiques are being bidded away, think of bits of public companies being auctioned away.
To make a less confusing analogy, think about the role of an auctioneer. The auctioneer's role is to get the highest and best price for each product. Well, the stock exchanges around the globe kinda operate in the same fashion. The auctioneer role, is called a Market Maker. In a stock sale, there is no stable, set price for stocks, but instead, setting the price is the role of the Market Maker.
The price will fluctuate greatly, because the ying and yang of the market, the buyers and sellers, will bid on either the stock going lower, or higher. Usually when you see a stock price go up, it means that the buy price of a stock has increased. This is vice versa when a stock declines in value.
Now I am sure you have seen visuals on the major news networks of how a stock floor looks. You know, the floor where tons of stark raving mad folks, scream numbers and look at monitors and make trades all day. The trading day starts at 9:30 in the morning Eastern Time, and stops at 4:00 in the afternoon Easter Time. Depending on business news, market forecasts, world events, and a few other things thrown in between, can dictate how much volume a market can have in a day.
The last couple of paragraphs have mentioned all of the particulars of two major markets, the New York Stock Exchange(NYSE) and the lesser known American Stock Exchange. But there is a third one too! It is called NASDAQ.Now what makes NASDAQ quite unique from the other two, is that this market is controlled by computers. Despite the technological advances of this stock market, NASDAQ still has the conventional bidding water of NYSE and American Stock Exchange. The buyers and sellers have their own areas to buy and sell stock, and bid through a quote system called Level II.
The great thing with stock trading, is that in order to be successful with trading stocks, you do not have to be in the pit, bidding like a madman on the hunt for their lives. Not at all! You can now use the very computer in your house, or go to a trading office if you live in a big city and trade stocks. Many different internet based brokerages are out there, and have plenty of materials to get you started on your way to becoming a great stocktrader!
http://www.forexarticlecollection.com/stock-market/go-stock-trade-.-com-primer-what-is-the-stock-market-all-about.html

The Vulnerabilities of the US DollarThe US dollar
The Vulnerabilities of the US DollarThe US dollar weakened significantly this past week as rising oil prices revealed the vulnerabilities of the US economy. Companies are beginning to struggle and have been forced to come up with more creative ways to deal with the energy crisis. With crude oil prices hitting $135 a barrel and gasoline in many states topping $4 a gallon, US companies are making cuts across the board. Ford Motors Co for example plans on reducing production while American Airlines will be lowering capacity by 15 percent and adding bag charges. According to the futures market, some traders even expect gas prices to hit $7 to $8 a gallon. However the US is not alone in having to deal with the oil crisis which is one of the major reasons why the dollar has weakened. Over the past few weeks, the market had been slowly pricing in a pause from the Federal Reserve. At the same time, there was a growing consensus that other central banks may need to begin or continue to cut interest rates. The surge in oil prices and hawkish comments from the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Reserve Bank of Australia dramatically altered the outlook for these central banks. With strict inflation targets, traders came to realize that interest rates for these 3 countries will remain unchanged for the foreseeable future and as a result, currency rates adjusted for these expectations. In the coming week, the vulnerabilities of the US economy may become even more apparent. The US markets are closed for Memorial Day on Monday, but we still have a busy week ahead of us with consumer confidence, new home sales, durable goods, first quarter GDP, personal income, personal spending and Chicago PMI due for release. We expect most of these numbers to be dollar bearish as US consumers continue to struggle under the weight of deteriorating personal finances.
source http://www.actionforex.com/fundamental-analysis/daily-forex-fundamentals/the-vulnerabilities-of-the-us-dollar-2008052347064/

Mid-Day Report: Consolidation Continues in Quiet
Trading Dollar weakens mildly against today as oil recovers after overnight's retreat. Nevertheless, markets are basically quietly stuck in range with long weekend in sight where US & UK markets will be on holiday next Monday. Existing home sales from US was a touch better than expected, dropping -1% to 4.89m annualized rate in Apr but the data has little impact to the markets so far. While, dollar may continue to trade with a soft tone, consolidation is more likely for the rest of today.
Released early in European session, Eurozone manufacturing PMI fell to 50.5 as expected. Services PMI dropped sharply from 52.0 to 50.6, much worse than expectation of 51.7. Second estimate of UK Q1 GDP was unchanged at 0.4% qoq, 2.5% yoy.
Market Overview Written by ActionForex.com

IMF Cautions BOE Against Any Further Rate Cuts

(CEP News) - In its annual report on the UK economy, the IMF urged the BOE to tighten up its interest rate policy or it will have no choice but to raise interest rates.The IMF sees no scope for further cuts and stated that if inflation begins to drive up wages, policy-makers should not hesitate to raise rates.The United Kingdom's headline CPI is at 3%, above its current target rate of 2%. High commodity prices and a weak sterling have placed upward pressure on prices. The IMF stated, "We see no scope for further near-term monetary easing absent assurances of continued wage moderation, fiscal policy that is tighter than planned, or signs that house price and credit developments are significantly curbing domestic demand." The IMF expects the UK economy to grow 1.75% in 2008 and continue at the same rate into 2009.
By Steve Stecyk, sstecyk@economicnews.ca, edited by Cristina Markham, cmarkham@economicnews.ca

Yearly inflation at India Achieve 8,02%,
(Government - Forex) - India govermnet, today, declare data strike inflasi orb March this year. Build as reported advisory that extent inflation at orb March undergo peningkatan become 8,02%. Inflasi extent Volume because this by his board food matter figure that pushed by matter figure his dear oil.
Yearly inflation at India monitoring incline aint undergo mutation that signifikan and yet occur at gyration 7,82%, after last sunday occur last at 7,83%. Inflasi extent Volume orb March that occur at level 8,02% make market character shelf become concern, because analis shelf prediction extent inflasi at orb March but will achieve level 6,68%.
Bank analis prediction according , extent inflasi at India will incline bear keel up level 7,5%. This matter base affair by will his occur goverment policy that will raise oil price national at next month.

U.S. Existing Home Sales Drop; Inventories Soar
Existing home sales dropped by 1% in April, sending the annualized level down to 4.89 million units from March's 4.94 million level. Markets were expecting a 1.6% drop. The monthly decline reflected drops both in single-family homes (down 0.5%), while condos/co-ops sales dropped 5.2%.
The number of unsold homes on the market soared 10.5%. Measured in terms of months' supply, inventories were at 11.2 months, the highest level on record. The median price of existing homes increased 1.1% in April, although it was 8% lower on a year-over-year basis.
Existing home sales are now a full 3.3% below their September 2005 peak. They are also an annualized 5% lower than their first-quarter average, consistent with our forecast calling for another outsized decline in residential investment in the second quarter. Inventories in the sector jumped 10.5% and are now approximately 1.8 times their historical average. This implies that no near-term bottom is in sight for the housing market. Indeed, the NAHB housing market index ticked lower in May.
The elevated level of inventories also suggests that prices will have to fall further in order to assist in clearing the inventory glut. Eroding household net worth will be a weight on the consumer. However, disposable income has historically been the most important driver of consumer spending and the fiscal rebate checks should prop spending up in the second and third quarters.
taken from"RBC Financial Group" http://www.rbc.com/