Foreign Exchange:Factors affecting currency trading, Economic conditions include

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Management of Financial Institutions - MGT 604

Lecture # 32

Foreign Exchange

Factors affecting currency trading

Although exchange rates are affected by many factors, in the end, currency prices are a

result of supply and demand forces. The world's currency markets can be viewed as a huge

melting pot: in a large and ever-changing mix of current events, supply and demand factors

are constantly shifting, and the price of one currency in relation to another shifts

accordingly. No other market encompasses (and distills) as much of what is going on in the

world at any given time as foreign exchange.

Supply and demand for any given currency, and thus its value, are not influenced by any

single element, but rather by several. These elements generally fall into three categories:

economic factors, political conditions, and market psychology.

Economic factors

These include economic policy, disseminated by government agencies and central banks,

economic conditions, generally revealed through economic reports, and other economic

indicators.

Economic policy comprises government fiscal policy (budget/spending practices) and

monetary policy (the means by which a government's central bank influences the supply and

"cost" of money, which is reflected by the level of interest rates).

Economic conditions include:

Government budget deficits or surpluses: The market usually reacts negatively to

widening government budget deficits, and positively to narrowing budget deficits. The

impact is reflected in the value of a country's currency.

Balance of trade levels and trends: The trade flow between countries illustrates the

demand for goods and services, which in turn indicates demand for a country's currency to

conduct trade. Surpluses and deficits in trade of goods and services reflect the

competitiveness of a nation's economy. For example, trade deficits may have a negative

impact on a nation's currency.

Inflation levels and trends: Typically, a currency will lose value if there is a high level of

inflation in the country or if inflation levels are perceived to be rising. This is because

inflation erodes purchasing power, thus demand, for that particular currency.

Economic growth and health: Reports such as gross domestic product (GDP),

employment levels, retail sales, capacity utilization and others, detail the levels of a

country's economic growth and health. Generally, the more healthy and robust a country's

economy, the better its currency will perform, and the more demand for it there will be.

Political conditions

Internal, regional, and international political conditions and events can have a profound

effect on currency markets.

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For instance, political upheaval and instability can have a negative impact on a nation's

economy. The rise of a political faction that is perceived to be fiscally responsible can have

the opposite effect. Also, events in one country in a region may spur positive or negative

interest in a neighboring country and, in the process, affect its currency.

Market psychology

Market psychology and trader perceptions influence the foreign exchange market in a

variety of ways:

Flights to quality: Unsettling international events can lead to a "flight to quality," with

investors seeking a "safe haven". There will be a greater demand, thus a higher price, for

currencies perceived as stronger over their relatively weaker counterparts.

Long-term trends: Currency markets often move in visible long-term trends. Although

currencies do not have an annual growing season like physical commodities, business cycles

do make themselves felt. Cycle analysis looks at longer-term price trends that may rise from

economic or political trends.

"Buy the rumor, sell the fact:" This market truism can apply to many currency situations.

It is the tendency for the price of a currency to reflect the impact of a particular action

before it occurs and, when the anticipated event comes to pass, react in exactly the opposite

direction. This may also be referred to as a market being "oversold" or "overbought". To

buy the rumor or sell the fact can also be an example of the cognitive bias known as

anchoring, when investors focus too much on the relevance of outside events to currency

prices.

Economic numbers: While economic numbers can certainly reflect economic policy, some

reports and numbers take on a talisman-like effect: the number it becomes important to

market psychology and may have an immediate impact on short-term market moves. "What

to watch" can change over time. In recent years, for example, money supply, employment,

trade balance figures and inflation numbers have all taken turns in the spotlight.

Technical trading considerations: As in other markets, the accumulated price movements

in a currency pair such as EUR/USD can form apparent patterns that traders may attempt to

use. Many traders study price charts in order to identify such patterns

Financial instruments

There are several types of financial instruments commonly used.

Spot

A spot transaction is a two-day delivery transaction, as opposed to the futures contracts,

which are usually three months. This trade represents a "direct exchange" between two

currencies, has the shortest time frame, involves cash rather than a contract; and interest is

not included in the agreed-upon transaction. The data for this study come from the spot

market. Spot has the largest share by volume in FX transactions among all instruments.

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Forward

One way to deal with the Forex risk is to engage in a forward transaction. In this

transaction, money does not actually change hands until some agreed upon future date. A

buyer and seller agree on an exchange rate for any date in the future, and the transaction

occurs on that date, regardless of what the market rates are then. The duration of the trade

can be a few days, months, or years.

Future

Foreign currency futures are forward transactions with standard contract sizes and maturity

dates -- for example, 500,000 British pounds for next November at an agreed rate. Futures

are standardized and are usually traded on an exchange created for this purpose. The

average contract length is roughly 3 months. Futures contracts are usually inclusive of any

interest amounts.

Swap

The most common type of forward transaction is the currency swap. In a swap, two parties

exchange currencies for a certain length of time and agree to reverse the transaction at a

later date. These are not standardized contracts and are not traded through an exchange.

Option

A foreign exchange option (commonly shortened to just FX option) is a derivative where

the owner has the right but not the obligation to exchange money denominated in one

currency into another currency at a pre-agreed exchange rate on a specified date. The FX

options market is the deepest, largest and most liquid market for options of any kind in the

world.

Speculation

Controversy about currency speculators and their effect on currency devaluations and

national economies recurs regularly. Nevertheless, many economists (e.g. Milton Friedman)

have argued that speculators perform the important function of providing a market for

hedgers and transferring risk from those people who don't wish to bear it, to those who do.

Other economists (e.g. Joseph Stieglitz) however, may consider this argument to be based

more on politics and a free market philosophy than on economics.

Large hedge funds and other well capitalized "position traders" are the main professional

speculators.

Currency speculation is considered a highly suspect activity in many countries. While

investment in traditional financial instruments like bonds or stocks often is considered to

contribute positively to economic growth by providing capital, currency speculation does

not, according to this view; it is simply gambling, that often interferes with economic

policy. For example, in 1992, currency speculation forced the Central Bank of Sweden to

raise interest rates for a few days to 150% per annum, and later to devalue the krona.

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is one well known proponent of this

view. He blamed the devaluation of the Malaysian ringgit in 1997 on George Soros and

other speculators.

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Gregory Millman reports on an opposing view, comparing speculators to "vigilantes" who

simply help "enforce" international agreements and anticipate the effects of basic economic

"laws" in order to profit.

In this view, countries may develop unsustainable financial bubbles or otherwise mishandle

their national economies, and forex speculators made the inevitable collapse happen sooner.

A relatively quick collapse might even be preferable to continued economic mishandling.

Mahathir Mohamad and other critics of speculation are viewed as trying to deflect the

blame from them for having caused the unsustainable economic conditions.

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