Russian Sports Minister rejected the probability of transfer the 2018 World Cup to another country

Russian Minister of Sport Vitaly Mutko has rejected the probability that the 2018 World Cup will be moved from Russia to another country. "The Commission has worked for more than a year, after which the report was prepared, which was only one conclusion: there are no accusations against Russia, we led a fair fight. FIFA's Executive Committee approves the fact that Russia and Qatar will hold the world championships.", - Said Vitaly Mutko in an interview.
"At the FIFA Congress on Friday, have passed a testing of the electronic voting system, in which delegates were asked to answer the question: "Do you know that the 2018 World Cup will be held in Russia?". 197 votes said "yes". It seemed to me that those who voted against, is our opposition. Therefore, formally speaking, the Congress supported the world Cup in Russia, there are no more questions about it." - said Mutko.

Clinton won the primaries in South Carolina

In the primaries in South Carolina Hillary Clinton surpassed her competitor for the status of the US presidential candidate of the Democratic Party Bernie Sanders nearly 50 percentage points, with the support of African-American voters.
Victory in South Carolina has strengthened Clinton's status of the main contender for the title of the Democratic candidate in the presidential elections to be held on 8 November.
Besides Clinton managed to take revenge in the state after the defeat in the primaries in 2008, when the elections were won by future US President Barack Obama.
Clinton's victory in South Carolina was the third of four past primaries. The primary elections in New Hampshire in early February won Sanders.
Clinton wrote on her page on Twitter: "South Carolina, we did it." Her opponent Bernie Sanders acknowledged the victory of Hillary Clinton and congratulated her.
Nevertheless, he stated that "the campaign has just begun," relying on the successful continuation of the struggle on March 1 when primaries will be held simultaneously in several US states.

The US economy surpassed forecasts

The US economy presented a pleasant surprise to analysts on Friday. The data on the growth of gross domestic product in the last quarter of 2015 was revised from 0.7% to 1% in expected correction downwards to 0.4 percent.

The value of stocks increased by $81.7 bln. during the period, instead of the previously calculated 68.6 billion.

However the consumer spending slow its growth to the spring and fall to 2% transient estimates of 2.2%. Investments in equipment decreased by 1.8%, while investment in non-residential buildings are down by 6.6%.

The trade balance takes 0.25 percentage points from economic growth rather than calculated earlier 0.47 points, as exports shrank more sharply, by 2.7% instead of 2.5%, but imports fell by 0.6% in the previous estimate of growth of 1.1 percent.

According to analysts, Friday's report may not be as good news as it seems at first sight. Higher volume stocks could force businesses reduce the pace of production at the beginning of 2015. Separately, it is possible that the data are a sign that companies are facing problems to sell their products.

BoA recommend buying of euro before the ECB meeting

Investors expect decisive action by the European Central Bank in March, but forex strategists at Bank of America warned, that the institution can not justify the hopes.

In order to ensure sensitive and sustainable decline in the euro, regulators should have served a real surprise, according to analysts. Troubled situation in the financial markets fueled expectations for an active relief of monetary policy, but BoA are not convinced that the ECB is capable of aggressive and unconventional actions.

The manager of the institution Mario Draghi will probably try hard to soften the disappointment, but the rhetoric will hardly be enough to compensate for the bitterness of unjustified hopes.

By BoA added that the March meeting of the ECB will be the most complex in recent years. Financial market volatility and global shocks seem more powerful factors influencing the euro than the actions of monetary regulators.

Strategists predict that before the meeting of the institution, scheduled for March 10, the euro could fall further. But experts say it would open attractive opportunities for opening tactical long positions in anticipation of reduction of short positions and weakening risk appetite.

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Why Goldman Sachs expect the euro under parity?

Forex strategists of Goldman Sachs expect EUR/USD to fall to 0.9500 after one year, after three and six months the rate to become 1.0400 and 1.0000 respectively. Forecasts for EUR/JPY pair is to reach 127 in the next three months, 125 - after six and 124 - after a year.

Analysts point out that the EUR/USD and EUR/GBP may weaken significantly, because of the different way in which central banks have taken on the continent, the United States and Britain.



The euro has already fallen significantly over the past 18 months but, according to Goldman Sachs, the trend is still far from exhausted. In a first place, the picture of cash flows are likely to become increasingly negative for the united currency, as investors from the Eurozone will make their funds to foreign assets in search of higher returns. Second, inflation will slow down its pace of growth, which means that the European Central Bank will be forced to continue stimulating policy, keeping pressure on the euro.

At Goldman Sachs believe, that the European economy will increase by 1.7% in 2016 compared with 1.5% in 2015. The base consumer inflation, however, is likely to be only 1%, while the ECB pledged 1.3%. According to strategists at Goldman Sachs, the index will reach 1.7 percent not earlier than the end of 2018.

I still don't beleive in parity.

The dollar rose against the other currencies, helped by positive economic data

The US dollar rose against other major currencies on Thursday, helped by upbeat US economic data.
United States Department of Labor said the number of people applying for benefits last week dropped by 7,000 to 262,000 of 269,000 for the previous week. Analysts had expected an increase of 6,000 to 275,000.
In addition, the index of production also rose to -2.8 from -3.5 in January.
Market sentiment worsened after the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development cut its forecast for global growth for 2016 and warned that some emerging markets are at risk of fluctuation of exchange rates.
OECD expects world gross domestic product to grow by 3.0 percent this year, down from forecasting growth of 3.3 percent made in November.
The euro fell, closing at 1.1105.
Elsewhere, the dollar fell against the British pound, as the pair GBP/USD finished at 1.4335.
USD/JPY also dropped to 113.23.
Meanwhile, the Australian dollar remained weaker against the green money ended down at 0.7156, while NZD/USD managed to climb to 0.6643.
USD/CAD closed the session at 1.3725, after oil futures were back above 31 dollars per barrel.
The dollar index US ended the day at 96.75.

Daily technical forecast for February 18 - GBP/USD

GBP/USD

The pound recorded a dynamic session against the dollar on Wednesday. Ultimately the opening price was close to closing proce, respectively, 1.4302 and 1.4289. The trend was extremely volatile - the daily peak was reached at 1.4338 and the bottom was hit 103 pips lower. As a result, the support at 1.4242 was breached, but the pair finished above its levels. If bearish sentiment prevail, GBP/USD will move to the second support at 1.4204.

Support: 1.4242; 1.4204
Resistance: 1.4444; 1.4578;

Daily technical forecast for February 18 - EUR/USD

EUR/USD

On Wednesday the euro recorded a consecutive neutral session against the dollar. The pair remains on the same levels, reached earlier this week. Short-term indicators are in favor of the single currency and if they fulfill, the resistance at 1.1235 will be breached. The trading started at a price of 1.1142, and the finale was put 16 pips below. At the beginning the bulls prevailed, registering peak for the day at 1.1178, but later gains were limited.

Support: 1.1085; 1.1064;
Resistance: 1.1235; 1.1387;

Daily techical analysis for EUR/USD for February 15

EUR/USD

EUR/USD tried to pick up last week, topped at 1.1376 but closed lower at 1.1254. Falling star formation gives us a valid signal for weakening the power of bulls and downward pressure. Trade signals are down to test 1.1190. Immediate resistance is at 1.1265. A clear break above it could take the price to neutral zone testing 1.1300 but key resistance is seen around 1.1376, which should be clearly pierced up for potential end of the current downward phase targets near 1.1500.

Technical analysis of the GBP/USD for February 12

GBP/USD

Pound/Dollar attempted to drop yesterday, forming a bottom of 1.4383. The pair lost 46 pips at a closing price of 1.4475. Daily extreme values were reached respectively at 1.4562 and 1.4385. The first immediate resistance is seen at 1.4550. A clear break above that area could trigger further bullish pressure testing 1.4620 or higher. Support for the day is 1.4450, whose breach could lead to bearish pressure testing 1.4400 - 1.4350, which could serve as a springboard for price rebound back to 1.4700. The main technical signals remain neutral, but the upward intraday scenario is still valid at this point.

Credit Suisse lowered their forecast for the dollar

Forex analysts of Credit Suisse lowered their forecast for the dollar in the short and long term. According to strategists, the significant change of expectations about the pace of tightening of monetary policy in the US will weigh on the currency. Furthermore, investors seem to pay less attention to the stimulus measures launched by the European and Japanese central banks.

Against this background, the experts of Credit Suisse expect the exchange rate USD/JPY after three months to amount Y110, against Y120, predicted earlier. Annual forecasts were revised from Y125 to Y105.

The euro is no longer expected to reach parity as EUR/USD will probably trade at $ 1.1000 after year and quarterly assessment was adjusted from $1.0800 to$ 1.1700.

Quarterly forecasts for GBP/USD have been revised from $1.4000 to $1.4300, and annual - from $1.3300 to $1.3750.

My personal opinion from a long time is, that the parity between euro and USD is a chimera for at least next 10 years (two economic cycles).

Daily analysis of the EUR/USD for February 10

EUR/USD

The dollar weakened yesterday as the euro and the Swiss franc led the trade. Markets expect today's announcement of Fed Chairman Janet Yellen, from which is expected to understand what will make the institution in the future with the increase in interest rates. Recent economic data, lower oil prices and instability in stock markets gave little hope that in March we will see a further increase in interest rates.
Euro/dollar continued its upwards momentum yesterday, formed a peak of 1.1337. The pair managed to hold the past few sessions over the 200-day moving average above 1.1054.
The bias remains bullish in nearest term for testing 1.1400 before aim in the region of 1.1500.

Immediate support is around 1.1200. On hourly chart below we have a falling star formation that is descending figure, but overall the bullish scenario remains valid.

Technical analysis of the EUR/USD for February 9

EUR/USD

Euro/dollar attempted to push lower yesterday, bottomed at 1.1085, but then turned up, shielding higher at 1.1192 and hitting 1.1237 earlier this morning. The outlook is bullish in nearest term for re-testing 1.1240, which level should be clearly broken to continue the bullish scenario targeting near 1.1500. Immediate support is seen at 1.1150. A clear break above that area could lead price to neutral trading zone but as long as the pair stay above 1.1070, the bullish scenario remains actual.

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Cisco: Mobile data will flood world

The company predicts that data traffic from cellular networks will increase eight times by 2020.

Smartphones and other mobile devices will flood the Internet with data in the next years. Cisco Systems this week announced its forecast that the data traffic from cellular networks will increase eight times by 2020, reaching 366.8 exabytes of the 44.2 exabytes in 2015, writes Wall Street Journal.
One exabyte is equal to one quintillion bytes or one billion gigabytes. 366.8 exabytes equivalent of publication of 7 trillion video on YouTube, stating Cisco.
Even in this volume mobile traffic represents just 15% of the total data traffic by 2020 compared to 5% in 2015. But it will grow at a faster rate than the Internet as a whole, the company says.
Cisco sees multiple growth drivers of mobile data. At the head of this list stands video - as well as the number of videos that are generated by smartphones and the growing demand for high-quality images that require greater data traffic.
One of the important factors for the increase in traffic would be the spread of the basic technologies. Cisco expect the number of mobile users to grow and to reach 5.5 billion in 2020, or 70% of the world population, comparing to 4.8 billion in 2015. This will be more than the number of people with electricity (5.3 billion) or bank accounts (4.5 bln.), according to Cisco.
At the same time many people have more than one mobile device - especially smart watches and other portable devices, which start to communicate with each other, sometimes without the need for user intervention. Cisco indicates that the number of connected mobile devices will grow from 7.8 billion in 2015 to 11.6 bln. in 2020.
Shruti Jain, senior analyst at Cisco, says that one of the most surprising trends in new studies of the company is how fast mobile data traffic will shift to the fourth generation (4G) networks that transfer data faster than 3G networks popular at the moment.
By 2020, such networks can handle connections of 40.5% of the mobile devices, which is much above the 14.5 percent in 2015.

LinkedIn sank by 41% on Friday

Within an hour, the company lost about $10 billion dollars of market capitalization

LinkedIn's shares experienced its worst day on Friday. The dominant online platform for professionals and specialists in human resources erased with one stroke over 40% of its market capitalization. Shares of network went down at the beginning of the trading session on Wall Street with about 41% to 112 dollars per share.

At the close of the market on Thursday price was 192.28 dollars per share, giving the company a market capitalization of $25 billion. By Thursday LinkedIn shares had already lost 15 percent from the beginning of this year, but a year ago the shares were worth still $270 per share, calculated Bloomberg.

This is the most serious downturn for the shares of this company, wiping about $10 billion from its market capitalization. On Thursday, the company announced that it expects net earnings per share for the first quarter amounted to 0.55 dollars per share, but analysts had expected 0.75 dollars per share.

The company expects annual revenue of $3.6 billion to $3.65 bln., but market expectations were for $3.9 bln.

LinkedIn reported revenue of $861.9 million for the fourth quarter, with a loss of 0.06 dollars per share, or $8.4 million. Nervousness of the shareholders can be understood better yet, if we look at the whole year. The loss for 2015 amounted to $166 mln. compared to only $15.3 million a year earlier.

LinkedIn also announced that closes Lead Accelerator, advertising business-to-business network, which was bought in 2014 with the provider of marketing services for businesses Bizo for nearly $175 million.

For the last year LinkedIn shares sank by over 57%.

GBP/USD rate dropped to the closing of US trading

The British pound fell against the dollar on Friday.

By the end of the American session, GBP/USD is trading at 1.4503, shedding 0.58%.

I believe that the support is now located at the level of 1.4224, Monday's low, and resistance is likely to make the level of 1.4670 - maximum of Thursday.

Meanwhile, the British Pound was down against the Euro and the Japanese yen. The pair EUR/GBP, gaining 0.07%, reached the level of 0.7690, and the GBP/JPY, dropping 0.61%, reached 169.31.

EUR/USD rate dropped to the closing of US trading

The euro was down against the US Dollar on Friday.

By the end of the American session, EUR/USD is trading at 1.1155, shedding 0.47%.

I believe that the support is now located at the level of 1.0812, Monday's low, and resistance is likely to make the level of 1.1246 - a maximum of Friday's trading.

Meanwhile, the euro was up against the British Pound and down against the Japanese yen. The pair EUR/GBP, gaining 0.07%, reached the level of 0.7690, and the EUR/JPY, dropping 0.42%, reached 130.34.

Goldman Sachs provides a growth of USD/JPY to 130.00

Forex strategists of Goldman Sachs noted that the surprising decision by the Japanese central bank to introduce negative interest reaffirms bearish prospects for the yen.

Analogous situation in October 2014 gives us a useful indication of the potential reaction of markets, complemented by Goldman Sachs. USD/JPY then rose by 2% as a direct effect, but the next month rose another 7%.

Weakened risk appetite support the Japanese currency, leading to increased volatility. Before the meeting of the central bank, dominated long positions in the yen, but now experts expect to focus on a different direction, in which they have undertaken monetary policies in the US and Japan.

Of course, China remains a key risk factor in the short term, emphasized by Goldman Sachs, but provide reports Celestial Empire to stabilize, which will lead to stability in risk sentiment.

Against this background, experts expect an increase of USD/JPY to 123.00 next week to 130.00 in the coming 12 months.