Sphinx Forex Trade Review for August 20, 2009

LONDON (Reuters) - Lloyds Banking Group has agreed to sell its stake in housebuilder Crest Nicholson to U.S. investment company Varde, continuing to shed non-core assets and refocus on its core lending activities. […]

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Asian stocks edged up and the yen held below a 15-year high on Thursday, after a small rally on Wall Street driven by successful European bond auctions gave investors an excuse to lighten up on their bets. […]

BEIJING (Reuters) - Switzerland remains the world's most competitive economy, while the United States has fallen from second to fourth after losing the top spot last year, according to the World Economic Forum's annual rankings issued on Thursday. […]

LONDON (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs has been fined 20 million pounds ($30.9 million) by the UK's financial regulator for failing to disclose it was under fraud investigation by its U.S. counterpart, the BBC reported on Wednesday. […]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Projected U.S. economic growth for the rest of this year and next was revised down for a third month in a row by a panel of about 50 economists. […]

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's competition regulator blocked National Australia Bank's $12 billion bid for AXA Asia Pacific for a second time, dashing NAB's efforts to cement its dominance in the world's fourth-largest wealth management market. […]

BEIJING (Reuters) - Some Chinese cities are preparing fresh property tightening steps as housing transactions and prices show signs of a rebound, reinforcing market expectations that Beijing will not ease its grip on the sector any time soon. […]

Crude oil is little changed in overnight trade as the commodity awaits a much-anticipated report on U.S. petroleum inventories on Thursday. A larger-than-normal build will may lead to more underperformance by oil, while a bullish surprise may lead to a breakout. […]

Established trends are maintained in the Asia session, ahead of the Bank of England rate decision. The Aussie-Dollar has attempted to breakout on strong economic data, but tomorrow’s risk trends will need to reinforce the move. […]

No matter how hard the dollar tries, its fundamental path is currently bound to underlying investor sentiment. This isn’t a unique relationship by any means. In fact, cross market correlation is near its highest level in over a year – a product of structural developments that include increased globalization and access to capital markets. […]

Once again, we are left to qualify the sincerity of investor sentiment. Wednesday’s session brought a clear advance in the appetite for risk; but considering the lack of a distinct trend for equities, crude and even progress on gold, it seems traders are still waiting. […]

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The Bank of England is widely expected to maintain its current policy in September, and the British Pound could face increased volatility following the rate decision as investors weigh the prospects for future policy. […]