Steve Barrow Quotes (34 Quotes)

Politicians, industry groups and research bodies are all uniting to call on the ECB for policy action.

Inflation in the short-term could head lower than 1.5 percent, that would be at the lower end of the government's target range,

If European companies start to cut dividend yields this could start to hold the market back. The dividend yield cut story is just another excuse for investors to sell stocks.

There are other countries at the G20 that are aggrieved at the weakness of their currency against the dollar - Australia for one.

Dollaryen is slightly higher, perhaps as a consequence of that, with some of the comments sounding a little bit more hopeful in the sense of them not pushing on the anti-China trade legislation that they've brought to Congress. But we'll have to see what happens when they get back (to the U.S.).

The ECB needs to raise interest rates to stop a big slide in the euro. We doubt the German economy will slow down as is predicted.

The euro will strengthen against the dollar and should hit parity some time in the summer, ... The euro zone is experiencing robust growth, but globally the markets seem to like the dollar at the moment.

We believe the euro could slide to 85 cents and things could get a lot worse, with the Danish referendum going against joining the euro.

There is speculation in the market that a Dutch company is selling euros.

Worse still, there are ominous signals from the U.S. that the ECB might not have a willing ally in the Republican Party, if the GOP gets its feet under the desk at the Oval office on Nov. 7. Bush's chief economic advisor Lawrence Lindsey suggested that the U.S. was wrong to intervene on behalf of the euro.

Everyone knows that as soon as London closes tonight, the U.S. won't intervene.

A combination of a Bush victory, Republican majority in the House and Senate, together with benign neglect of the dollar could send eurodollar down into the 70-cent to 75-cent range.

We've seen some selling earlier this week, but a good number will show the general strength of the U.S. economy and help the dollar. Payrolls will be the key indicator as far as the Fed is concerned.

The market, looking for a move down to 85 in the Michigan data, is maybe not pricing in the full risk of a significant slow-down...I think the dollar is vulnerable to a weaker number.

This talk of tax reform will come and go. But we need the economy looking brighter, otherwise putting action plans together is just fighting a losing battle.

History has shown currency intervention is a long drawn-out battle, ... It will take weeks, if not months, with or without the U.S., to boost the euro. It'll take a miracle.

We still hold firm to the belief that the euro will fall to 80 cents, ... At that level the ECB is most likely to intervene.

With the FOMC meeting tomorrow the market is hardly going to care too much for the U.S. data today.

Fed speakers are saying they are going to be vigilant on inflation and if the data suggests they haven't done enough, they will do more. It's a short-term buying opportunity for the dollar.

There may be some help for the euro if the European Central Bank raises interest rates,

We feel that the ECB should take inflation by the scruff of the neck and raise rates by a half percentage point.

The dollar still looks like a good buy. People are going to need to adjust to more rate increases from the Fed, so that's going to give the dollar a push.

The Canadian currency is still performing very well especially in the face of a slightly disappointing retail number. The Bank of Canada's meeting next week will be the focus. A rate hike next week is most likely.

Will the market push on for 1.05 this year and 1.10 by this time next year We definitely believe that it will be the latter,

The ECB is in a no-win situation. If it cuts rates it will be accused of taking risks with inflation, and if it doesn't cut rates, it will be accused of not caring about growth. It's boxed in.

However, it is not all bad news as the slide was largely driven by a strong 27.3 rise in imports. While this reflects oil prices, to some extent, underlying imports are rising, which bodes well for the economy.

I don't trust this rally as far as I could throw it. It maybe takes a while for investors to decide to ditch even more stocks and become even more cautious about corporate debt. I don't see what's happening here as a harbinger of recovery for the market.

They have talked in slightly more dovish terms about a rate hike recently, and growth data have slackened off.

This is a problem of their own making, ... having two targets for money supply, which is heading higher, and inflation, which is on the way down. The ECB has to decide on one target.

But clearly any view on the Fed now is dependent on how the data comes through and hence we can expect the dollar to be a bit more volatile on data releases, starting with Friday's payrolls.

If there are no tax cuts (planned for the budget) then that may be used an argument to cut rates,

The Fed has been on 'autopilot' with its monetary tightening so that even bouts of weaker data, such as we saw after hurricane Katrina, failed to divert the Fed off course. But now, following the minutes of the December meeting, it is clear that policy will become more data dependent.

The ECB has egg on its face, ... The conventional wisdom is for a central bank to buy on the upward momentum. The euro was doing well until the ECB decided to step in. It's a bad, bad day at the office.

As things stand, the measures and the tone employed by the currency pair does not seem strong enough to turn market sentiment on a sixpence. Most likely the bank will have to continue to intervene heavily to stem the strength.