Ashraf Laidi Quotations

One asks how can players rush into selling the dollar -- albeit at these attractive technical levels -- in the face of the Fed's bolstering, anti-inflation rhetoric?

If China was to completely get rid of its currency peg, and the yuan became completely convertible, it would fall under pressure. It would become another Thai baht.

Given the declining trend in net foreign purchases of the past five months, we doubt whether these would be sufficient in covering the $55.8 billion trade deficit, ... In that case, markets should expect intensifying damage for the dollar.

Given the aforementioned dynamics, it is more probable for the U.S. trade deficit to continue soaring to record highs than it is probable for foreign capital flows to keep up with swelling imbalance,

We can expect to see worse numbers to come. The simple reason is when there is a rise in oil prices that increase in oil price for a particular month does not tend to spill over into the trade deficit until the next month.

There is a good chance that CPI will be higher than expected. But the question is not only will the CPI reflect the increase in wholesale inflation but whether it will be carried into subsequent months.

Markets always have a tendency to overreact when they have news.

That would really hurt the U.S. housing market, which is already slowing. It would hurt the U.S. economy and would hurt the rest of the world's economies.

We do think it's a matter of time both the Bank of Japan and government officials begin their chorus of escalating threats and warnings, which could prove ineffective .

Today's trade figures are a stark reminder to the structural deficiencies of the U.S. economy and the reason for our negative dollar outlook for the year despite (its) recent bounce.

Today's disappointing labor report supports the notion that the emerging soft patch in the U.S. economy is here to stay.

The press conference by the ECB is going to be hawkish and the president is going to make sure to add the words 'being vigilant,' regarding inflationary expectations. That could actually increase the chances of a March rate hike.

This story is important because I don't think we are going to have a lame duck secretary at a time when the president of the fastest growing nation in the world is coming here and when the forefront of relations between China and the US is on finance issues.

With our trading partners slowing down, they're not going to demand a lot of exports from us.

We expect the yield curve to invert further as long as US stocks continue to show no signs of a retreat and the Fed is priced to tighten.

The speech is as expected. He opens the door basically for further interest rate hikes. It shows he totally agrees with the last FOMC statement that said short-term interest rates hikes 'may' be needed.

This is how you make money without venturing abroad.

This could further serve as the natural trigger for the March 8-9 move.

This does not mean that currency markets have completely eliminated all concerns about the trade deficit when assessing the dollar,

The report came in below the psychologically important $60 billion figure many had been expecting due to mounting oil imports.

The number is not good for the dollar. There is increased difficulty for the U.S. to finance its swelling trade deficit.

It's good for the U.S. to see a relatively weaker dollar, but it's not a good idea for the U.S. Treasury to signal it wants a weaker dollar. The decline in the U.S. currency could be faster than they wish.

(The Canadian dollar) has been a big play from overseas players, especially those who are wanting to play it against the Japanese yen to take advantage of the carry trade, which is right now beginning to overturn.

Industrial output does show we are still in a slowdown, but it does show we may be nearing the bottom of a slowdown. We are still not out of woods yet. January was a slow month, but we could see some brightening of prospects after the first half of this year.

The combination of cold winter weather and a potential stand-off in the Arabian Gulf in the event of a military strike on Iran is causing many oil analysts to expect $80 per barrel oil as early as this quarter.

The dollar impact will emerge from whether the Fed Chairman confirms the scaling down in market's expectations of a May rate hike. We deem the Fed to be uncertain as to what it will do in the May meeting as it is far too early for the 'data-dependent' institution to decide.