Forex Trading Signals for 15th January 2013

                                                                                
Japan (Tokyo)                               United Kingdon (London)                        USA (New York)

Sell on the market: GBP/USD
Sell : 
Entry Point : 1.60823
Take Profit:   1.60523
Stop Loss:    1.61023

 2nd,,

SELL on GBP/USD : 
Entry Point : 1.60769

Take Profit:   1.60569
Stop Loss:    1.61069
 


We will Sell on the market: EUR/USD
Sell : 
Entry Point : 1.33620

Take Profit:   1.33420
Stop Loss:    1.33920

2nd  BUY on the market,,,

BUY : 
Entry Point : 1.33770

Take Profit:  1.34070
Stop Loss:   1.33470

Wish you all a successful forex trading. Always remember to use your stop loss to avoid much loss on your trading account,,,

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Low-end iPhone might cost up to $150

Apple is going to launch a smaller, cheaper version of the iPhone as soon as this year to gain a foothold in developing markets, and the price tag will reportedly be between $99 and $149.

The new smartphone would be approximately a third the price of current models costing $650 without a contract in the US, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. It is expected to reach the retailers in late 2013. The smartphone would be smaller than current models and would be made from cheaper parts.

The company has been cherishing the idea of budget iPhone since February 2011, the source said. The new product is expected to boost Apple’s sales in emerging markets, helping the US company to rival Korean producer Samsung Electronics. 

Samsung and other smartphone makers that use Google’s Android mobile software system made up 75% of sales in the third quarter, compared with 14.6% for Apple, according to the ID market research firm. Samsung share rose from 8.8% to 31.3% from the third quarter of 2010 to the third quarter of 2012. Meanwhile, Apple’s share was down from a peak of 23% in the fourth quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of 2012.

The iPhone generated $80.5 billion in sales last year, accounting for more than 50% of Apple’s revenue.

Slumping sales have caused concern that a high price tag could hamper Apple’s expansion abroad. However, CEO Tim Cook stressed that Apple’s focus on product quality trumped other issues.

Launching the budget version of the iPhone would be a strategy shift for Apple as it turns an eye on developing markets, experts say. China is one of the priority markets for Apple, according to CEO Tim Cook. Chinese consumers brought $5.7 billion in sales to Apple in the quarter ended in September.

Earlier the major Russian mobile phone operator MTS slammed Apple for its ‘too’ strict sales policy by not allowing a cut in the device’s $1,000-plus price tag in the country. The iPhone’s high cost makes them a hard sell in the Russian market where rival models can be purchased for as little as $120, according to MTS. Apple’s strict requirements on retail locations bring additional costs.

                                                                                
Japan (Tokyo)                               United Kingdon (London)                        USA (New York)

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Morgan Stanley cuts 1,600 jobs to reduce cost

Morgan Stanley plans to cut hundreds of additional employees, largely in its prominent securities unit, to reduce expenses due to poor revenues and higher global capital requirements.

The sixth largest US bank by assets is going to cut senior staff from the securities unit and also plans to promote the smallest number of employees this month since early 2009, according to people familiar with the situation. The move is expected to save several million dollars of managing directors’ salaries annually.

About half the 1,600 layoffs will be made in the US, the bank said. These cuts follow a reduction of 4,200 employees through the first nine months of 2012. In July Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman announced plan to reduce overall staff by 7% in 2012. 

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley doesn't expect to make any cuts among its roughly 16,800 financial advisers team, according to the Wall Street Journal. The unit, which focuses on dealing with volatile global markets, provides more stable revenue than the banking businesses.

Morgan Stanley follows the example of other big investment banks, including Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup and UBS that have made significant layoffs to reduce costs. Last year Citigroup Inc. said it would cut 11,000 jobs, and UBS AG said it would cut 10,000 positions worldwide.

Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo & Co., Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley together have cut over 30,000 jobs since June 2011. Only J.P. Morgan Chase boosted staff in the 2011, adding 12,787 jobs in an effort to clean up its mortgage business and cut 1,000 of the worst-performing staffers. In total US financial firms announced plans to slash their workforce by 38,135 jobs in 2012, according to employment consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

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Central Banks’ gambling: Is easy money that easy?

Pumping billions into troubled economies has become the usual practice for the world central banks seeking to plug huge budget holes. Such an out of the box monetary strategy, generally known as ‘easy money’ may create another crisis, experts worry.

Since the financial crisis kicked off in 2007, the biggest central banks have injected above $11tn into the world financial system, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) calculated. As recoveries by troubled economies are slow to come, more billions are in the pipeline to be pumped into government bonds, mortgages and business loans.

In the framework of its quantitative easing initiative, the US Federal Reserve has bought $40bn worth of mortgage – backed securities. The Bank of England also joined the club and agreed to inject billions of pounds into businesses and households. The European Central Bank, in turn, decided to keep interest rates low for the countries in trouble. The Bank of Japan, facing deflation, is purchasing about $1.14tn in government bonds, corporate debt and stock. 

"These emergency measures could have undesirable effects if continued for too long," Jaime Caruana, general manager of the Bank for International Settlements, told WSJ.

"Will history decide they did too little or too much? We don't know because it is still a work in progress," said Kenneth Rogoff, an economics professor at Harvard and co-author of a book, "This Time Is Different," that examines financial crises over eight centuries. "They are taking risks because it is an experimental strategy."

Quantitative easing is  an economic stimulus used by the monetary authorities at times when conventional tools can no longer be used, namely when interest rates are at, or close, to zero. When this is the case, a central bank buys financial assets from commercial banks and other financial institutions with the money they simply print for the purpose. The goal is to make borrowing cheaper, which in turn should stimulate spending and investment by households and businesses. But creating money out of thin air and then it them into an economy is a high – stakes experiment not explained in standard textbooks and implying huge inflationary risks. 

"We're all very conscious that we're in an environment that's unusual and we're using a policy weapon that we don't have a lot of experience with," said Charles Bean, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England.

Should the experiment succeed, the world economy should step up onto a firm recovery track, while a failure could create an inflationary bubble that’ll prepare the unhealthy grounds for another financial crisis. Goodwill and independence of the central banks will also suffer in a case of misfortune. 

Economist and private investor Michael Norman argues that quantitative easing by central banks is not analagous to "pumping billions" into economies. "These are merely monetary operations that are nothing more than big asset swaps. When the CB conducts quantitative easing it removes one asset from the private sector--usually a government security--and replaces it with another--reserves in the banking system," he told RT. "The net amount of new financial assets created is zero." 

Moreover, according to Norman, these actions end up removing a tremendous amount of interest income that would have been earned by people and firms in the private economy. "Case in point, since the Fed started conducting these "extraordinary measures" back in 2008, a total of $400 bln in interest income has been removed. That more than offsets the gain in private wages and salaries over that time period," Norman explained.

Another concern is that the central banks can’t solve structural problems in the economy. They control money supply, balancing between the need to spur economic growth and keeping inflation sustainable. Each bailout package thrown into an economy reduces the cost of borrowing, thus stimulating economic growth, but poses a risk of inflation. Alternatively, cutting the amount of money that circulates in the economy, CBs make interest rates go up, which restrains economic expansion, but tamps down prices.

"Government can "pump billions" into economies via deficit spending. However, most countries are embracing austerity in a desire to lower deficits and this can be viewed as money destruction. Central banks can only set interest rates. That's it. And there's no direct channel from interest rates to aggregate demand," Michael Norman told RT.

A mere smoothing of economic wounds with easy money creates the illusion of things getting better, with policymakers becoming relaxed about implementing any structural reforms to address a core of the evil. 

Easy come, easy go, as the saying goes, but time will show how much room there is to go.

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Barroso Claims Euro is on the Upswing

The euro gained momentum on Tuesday morning after beginning to rise on Monday afternoon. On Monday, the common currency was trading at 1.3127.

Ahead of the European Central Bank meeting, many investors are speculating that the current interest rate will remain unchanged. Although the 17 country bloc is still struggling to find its footing after years of financial crisis, most believe the rates will go unchanged, at least in December. Most investors believe eventually, the rate will be cut again sometime in 2013.

Some analysts believe that the euro's upside is very limited. In an interview with a chief foreign exchange quantitative strategist at Barclays, Wall Street Journal reported that the region's stalled economy would limit gains for the currency in the near term. Barclay's is expecting the euro to trade near $1.32 in the next three months, with a one month price target of $1.30.

Support also came from European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who gave an encouraging talk in his home country of Portugal on Monday. According to the BBC, his talk reassured the markets that unlike 2012, in 2013 investors won't be questioning whether or not the euro will break up.

He warned that 2013 would not be easy, with many countries still struggling to consolidate their budgets and lower their debt. He told the audience that the root of the crisis was irresponsible behavior in the financial sector, and the current reform efforts were just the beginning. However, in his view, the ECB's promise to buy unlimited amounts of debt from eurozone countries was a significant turning point.

(c) 2013 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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IPOs: Minus Facebook, Experts See Better Year Raising $34B

No Facebook! Bankers Relieved By Better 2013 Market For IPOs

The initial public offering market, so badly damaged by last May’s $16 billion IPO by Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), the No. 1 social networking site, is on track to raise as much as $34 billion in U.S. markets and more than $100 billion worldwide, experts said.

Prospects for the U.S. have been improved since the “fiscal cliff” legislation resolved certain tax issues, said Wendy Hambleton, capital markets partner in Chicago with BDO USA, the No. 6 accounting firm. “A little bit of uncertainty has been eliminated,” she said.

Still, there’s global demand for IPOs from various sources, says BDO as well as Renaissance Capital, the Greenwich, Conn., specialist in the sector. Venture capital funds and private equity firms want to see returns on investment in maturing funds. Combined, companies controlled by those two sectors may account for as much as 65 percent of all IPO activity in 2013.

As well, “There’s always interest in technology,” said Hambleton. “It encompasses such a diversity of companies, but people are always interested in investing in something new.”

Last February, the Facebook announcement of its mega-deal, which wasn’t priced until May 17 and then bombed in the after-market, skewed the market, put IPOs of other companies that were either profitable or on the verge of it like Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) on ice and then froze the market until mid-July.

Priced at $38, Facebook shares fell as low as $17.55 in September before rallying last month as well as into January. In midday Wednesday trading, Facebook shares rose to $30.60, their highest since May, before closing at $30.59.

A motions hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Robert W. Sweet in the national class-action suit against Menlo Park, Calif.-based Facebook, its underwriters and NASDAQ OMX Group (NASDAQ:NDAQ) is scheduled for Manhattan on Jan. 23.

By removing Facebook from last year’s U.S. IPO proceeds, BDO expects U.S. IPO proceeds to rise about 28 percent. Renaissance estimates the U.S. total for 2012 was $40.1 billion, or 40.3 percent of the global market. Of interest: The Asia-Pacific IPO total was $41.7 billion, or 41.9 percent of the entire market, a trend that’s likely to continue.

Europe accounted for 10 percent of the 2012 IPO market, while Latin America’s share was only 6.4 percent, Renaissance reported.

More than 60 percent of the 100 investment bankers polled by BDO last month expect Asia to be the top source of IPOs for U.S. exchanges this year, followed by companies from Latin America and Europe.

Promising 2013 IPOs prospectively include Sinopec HK, the refining unit of China’s national oil company; Guangfa Bank, a Chinese regional bank, and Seibu Holdings, a railway and real estate holding company in Japan, whose $12.4 billion value could peg it as the richest of the year.

Two of the top five best-performing 2012 IPOs were technology related, Renaissance tallies show. They are Guidewire Software (NASDAQ:GWRE), of Foster City, Calif., which had a nearly 129 percent return from its IPO price, and Workday Inc. (NYSE:WDAY), the Pleasanton, Calif., human-resources software company managed by the prior heads of PeopleSoft, with a 94.6 percent return.

In Wednesday trading, Guidewire shares rose 43 cents to $31.34, valuing the insurance software specialist at $1.74 billion, while Workday shares rose 62 cents to $52.49, valuing the company at $8.71 billion.

The worst-performing 2012 IPO was China’s Ningbo Cixing Co. (SHE:300307), a knitting machine technology company. Its shares fell 74 percent below the IPO price.

For 2013, the bankers told BDO that health care is likely to the biggest source of new IPOs, followed by technology and biotech. Nearly 70 percent thought those three categories would be the leaders.

“You can understand why,” said BDO’s Hambleton. “Health care is so important, considering demographics, which also includes biotech.”

As of Monday, as many as 283 global companies have indicated plans to raise as much as $200 billion this year, Renaissance said. Some that have explicitly said "no" include Twitter, of San Francisco, where CEO Jack Costolo has said repeatedly any offering won’t come until at least 2014.

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