Chevron Corp. shares with low commissions through ActivTrades

Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) is one of the world's leading integrated energy companies. They are not only exploring and producing crude oil and natural gas, but invest in profitable renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions. They develop the energy resources of the future.
This morning the company released their second quarter financial earnings and the results didn’t meet the analyst’s expectations.

The net income for second quarter 2015 is $571 million, or $0.30 per share, compared with earnings of $5.7 billion ($2.98 per share) in the 2014 second quarter. 
Included in the quarter were impairments of $1.96 billion andother charges of approximately $670 million relating to project suspensions andadverse tax effects, all of which were non-cash charges stemming from adownward revision in the company’s longer-term crude oil price outlook.Partially offsetting were gains on asset sales totaling $1.80 billion in thecurrent quarter. Foreign currency effects decreased earnings in the 2015quarter by $251 million, compared with a decrease of $232 million a yearearlier.

Lower oil prices had hurt the oil giant and this inevitably reflected the reporting. This is the worst result for the last 13 years. 

But whatever the results are, Q2 Earnings Season is great opportunity to trade on the stocks of major companies in the NYSE stock exchange. My broker ActivTrades provides excellent  conditions to do this with very low commissions. ActivTrades offers CFDs on shares and they are available on the MT5 platform. 
To see more about the trading volumes and margins, follow this link.

Do not miss your chance for personal earnings!

US Dollar rises after the Fed meeting

On Wednesday, the US dollar recorded a second consecutive positive trading session against most of its major rivals after the US Federal Reserve announced that will keep the interest rates unchanged at a level between 0 and 0.25%.

However, it became clear that it’s not ruled out the institution to take action on the increase in interest rates at the end of the year in the event that the labour market continue to open new jobs at the same pace as marks of recent months. Unemployment in June declined to lowest levels since 2008.

Market participants will be watching with great interest whether the data on gross domestic product of the United States in the second quarter of the year, scheduled for publication on Thursday will confirm that the economy has recovered from recession.

US economic data had a positive impact on the US dollar, although the results were announced, lower than the forecast of analysts expectations. Pending sales of existing homes in June decreased by 1.8% at an estimated expectations of 1% growth.

The dollar index recorder an increase of 0.39% to the level of 97.08.

Consequently, the currency pair EUR / USD was trading at the end of the day with a variation of 75 pips, falling from 1.1058 to 1.0983.

Green light for Athens Stock Exchange

European Central Bank approved a plan to restart work on the Athens Stock Exchange.

ECB gave its approval for resumption of trade in the Greek capital market, reported Reuters.

However, this will happen under strict restrictions on the movement of capital which are also applied  the Greek banks.

Share trading in Athens will be resumed after the Greek finance ministry issue a decree. This is even possible to happen this week.

Exchange is closed from June 29 onwards, as shares of the companies were subject to massive sales. The fall of stock indices in Athens carried serious losses for Greek banks.

A growth of 3.4% in orders of durable goods in USА

Durable goods orders in the US rose by 3.4% in June . This is above the forecasts of analysts who predicted an increase of 3.2 per cent against the drop of 2.1 percent in May. 

The stronger than expected result was supported by a bustling interest in passenger planes - a category known for its volatility.

Excluding transportation, durable goods orders were up by the remarkable in August 2014 0.8% versus the zero change from the previous period and with forecasts for growth of 0.4 %.

The increase in orders of basic capital goods is amounted to 0.9% against the expected 0.4 % and after the  decline of 0.4% in May. This indicator will be closely monitored by the markets as a sign of business investment in the private sector.

Australian dollat fell to a six-year low

The Australian dollar fell to a six-year low against the massive drop in prices of all basic goods. The sale of the raw materials due to data on industrial production in China, which fell to its lowest level for more than a year. The report affected negatively on all commodities and currencies.

Slowing economic growth in China means less demand for raw materials such as iron ore, which is a major export item to Australia. The recent decrease in prices of many commodities, including oil, is also putting under pressure  on the  Australian dollar.

Analysts said the expected fall in interest rates by the Reserve Bank of Australia is no longer on the agenda, since such a move would lead to even more massive sales for the local currency.

EUR is rising

The euro rose sharply after the Greek Parliament approved next phase in bailout reforms required by creditors.

The single currency rose by 0.71% to 1.1007 dollars,  passing  over 1.1 EUR / USD for the first time in weeks. EUR also rose against the pound, the yen and the Swiss franc.

This morning the Greek Parliament approved the second package of measures, fulfilling the last condition of creditors to start negotiations for a third bailout package for the country. The draft law affects the operation of banks, property of debtors and  the judicial sector.

The new approach towards Greece is that first country accepts the reforms and then gets the money and this seems to enjoy the approval of investors.

However, the increase of the euro will be for a short. The risk created by the Greek crisis is rather speculative. For the foreign exchange markets interest spreads are of significant importance. Currently the interest rates in the US and the euro zone are on zero levels. However, this should change this year, as there are strong indications that the Fed is ready to start tightening its monetary policy in September.

Gold is close to 5 year bottom

Today the gold dropped again reflecting downward pressure on metals in recent days. And this is the biggest decline for the past two years. The expectations are for new losses in its sluggish demand.

The expected rise in US interest rates reduces interest in the metal as an investment and encourages sellers. On Monday gold depreciated by 4%. Meanwhile  the assets of the largest fund trading with gold SPDR Gold Trust fell again and reached its lowest level since 2008.

The spot price overnight fell to 1093 dollars, and the morning was 1102 dollars. Monday was hit bottom at  1088.05 dollars per troy ounce , which was the lowest price since March 2010.The mass sales were accelerated by the large volumes traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The demand from the physical sector remains weak despite the large decline in the price. India is in   hurry to join at a sluggish from China  as the potential buyers  are waiting for new lows in price.

The decline of gold is accompanied by a decrease in the whole sector of the precious metals, which is suffering  heavy losses.

European and US markets closed at higher levels after Greece began repaying ECB and IMF

European stock markets closed slightly higher on Monday after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) confirmed that Greece has paid € 2 billion ($ 2.2 billion) owed to the fund.

This news was reported by Reuters and stated that Greece has started to repay its obligations both to the European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund.

The  FTSE 100 UK index closed at a level of 6790.15 or up by 0.2%. Germany's DAX index gained about 0.5%  and ended the session at 11,750.49.

А move to the north or new hopes for Greek business

For three weeks almost 60 thousand  Greek companies have submitted application for re-registration in Bulgaria.

The massive transfer of business from my southern neighbour has begun after the end of June when the government of Greece imposed capital controls and closed banks in the country.

The president of the National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce Vassilios Korkidis commented for the local TV Skai, that the Greek government is unable to manage with the negative consequences of capital controls.

According to him, the committee, which must approve the financing business can not deal with the work.

Today banks in Greece were open, but capital controls remains until the country obtain the needed funding to stabilize the banking sector.

Stop Losses and Take Profit

Yesterday  was held quite impressive webinar by the competitive online broker ActivTrades. The event was led by the professional trader Paul Wallace who explained in details how to use Stop Losses and Take Profits. 

So far I didn’t realize the importance of those valuable commands. In fact it helps a lot to determine your stop loss and provide a guideline when to get out of the market and take your profit.

Risk and money management are key to a trader’s success and if you want to improve your trading skills, follow this link. 

In webinars archive are stored all past events. Enjoy watching, you can get valuable tips!

Eurostat reported 0,2% annual inflation in the euro area for June 2015

Eurostat  confirmed today its initial estimates for annual inflation in the monetary union.

Euro area annual inflation for June 2015 was 0.2%, compared to 0.3% in May 2015 and 0.5% in June 2014.

Thus, inflation remains below the medium-term objective of the European Central Bank (ECB) from just under 2%. The Bank triggered a large-scale program for the purchase of assets in order to accelerate the pace of inflation.

Annual inflation in the European Union also slowed - to 0.1% compared to 0.3% in May. A year earlier the level was 0.7%.

The largest upward pressure came from restaurants & cafés (+0.09 percentage points), tobacco and rents (+0.07 pp each), fuels for transport (-0.38 pp), heating oil (-0.17 pp) and gas (-0.07 pp) contributed the most to easing. 

Separately, the statistical offices today gave preliminary data on the trade balance of the euro area in May. Exports increased by 3% yoy to 164.4 billion, while imports remained virtually unchanged at 145.6 billion Euro. So the surplus reached 18.8 billion Euros compared to 14.7 billion in May 2014.

For the first five months of the year, exports are up by 5% to 828.9 billion Euros, while imports increased by 1% to 734 billion Euros. Thus, the trade surplus amounted to 94.9 billion Euros to 60.2 billion for January-May 2014.

Facebook plans by 2018 to use 50% renewable energy

Facebook set itself the objective to the end of 2018 to make half of its operations using energy from renewable sources and eventually in a long term expects to achieve 100% . 

The company also plans to build a data center in Fort Worth, Texas, which will operate entirely with renewable energy, announced the Facebook site.

A growing number of technology companies are turning to renewables for their data centers and other business areas, which consume significant amounts of energy.

Google gets 35% of its energy from renewable sources. All data center Apple has also used such energy.

"In 2012, we aimed to reach 25% renewable energy in our data centers by the end of the  year," said Facebook’s Vice President Jay Parikh. "In the long term we plan to reach 100%. We set a short-term goal to reach 50% by the end of 2018 ".

The Facebook’s data center in Fort Worth, Texas will be the fifth for the company. It will work with the energy of a 200-megawatt wind farm, which is located less than 161 km away.

FedEx is considering an order of Boeing 767 cargo jets for $5 billion

The American courier company FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) is currently negotiating the acquisition of 25 767-300F freighters  from Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA). The purchase will cost around $5 billion at list prices. That was discussed on a meeting of the board of the directors that was held last weekend in Seattle. 

The shipping company is currenly the only commercial customer for 767 cargo jets of Boeing Co. and therefor  this deal will be a valuable sales for Boeing amid competitive market of air machines in general and in particular cargo airplanes. 

The airplanes Boeing 767 were developed in the 80s of last century and are pioneers in long flights on airplanes with two engines. Over the past decade, however, they are overshadowed by the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and A330 of Airbus.

FedEx currently has 35 unfilled orders for the model 767-300 and adding another 25 on order, will surpass all other companies to become the largest user of this model at all. According to information published on the website of Boeing, the cost of aircraft retail is 199.3 million Dollars.

FedEx slid with 0.1%t to 170.77 USD at 9:54 a.m. in New York, while Boeing was little changed to 146.51 USD.

Greek deal led to rise of U.S. stocks and drop of the euro

Saving of Greece led to a sharp drop of the euro, which clearly shows how the investors evaluated the risk of keeping the country in the euro zone and the measures imposed by Germany. The agreement that was achieved today does not solve the problem of the Greek debt, but in the best case postpones it.

At the same time this agreement creates a precedent that could be used against other countries from the euro zone  with debt exceeding 100% of their gross domestic product, such as Portugal, Spain and Italy.

For foreign exchange markets Greece remains a risk factor in connection with the monetary union of the euro, although in the short term the stabilization of the situation in the country reduces political and economic risks.

Against this background the indexes in New York are strongly rising. Dow increased with 1.01%, up to 17,940 points. The Nasdaq has a growth of 1.17%,up to 5056 points. S & P 500 rose with 0.84% up to 2094 points.

However, USD is sharply rising and for this contributed the words of the governor of the Fed, Janet Yellen. According to her the US central bank will certainly begin to raise its interest rates before the end of this year.

The euro depreciated by 1.18% up to 1.1024 dollars. DXY increased with 0.71% up to 96.71.

Japan consumer confidence improves in June

Consumer confidence index in Japan has increased in June from 41.4 to 41.7 points, remaining slightly below analysts' forecasts for a value of 41.9.

All four sub-categories of indicators are moving upwards.
The quality of life indicator is rising by 0.6 points to 40.3, while personal income - from 47.2 to 47.3 points.

Employment's indicator reported an increase of 39.6 on 39.9 points, and the willingness of consumers to spend money on durable goods is growing from 43.1 to 43.7 points.

About 87.3% of polled people expect an increase in prices in the coming 12 months, compared to only 3.2% who are expecting reduction in prices .

European exchange markets expect deal between Greece and creditors

The penultimate session of the week on stock exchanges in Europe ended with spikes. Markets expect Greece to submit its request for a third rescue program until midnight CET today, and this is seen as a solution to the crisis in Greece.

However, the Prime Minister of Greece Alexis Tsipras was under strong pressure from the extreme left wing unit in SYRIZA. The Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis strongly opposed a third rescue program and last hours can be critical.

The deadline for enactment of a new program for Greece in on Sunday. Discussions will start at 16 o'clock CET.

Further incentive was the recovery of stock markets in China. For this reason the leading indices in European markets reported strong gains at the end of the day. All sectors that are part of the pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 are on green territory. The index rose by 2.23% to a level of 381.21 points today.

Among the leading companies that are part of the index is the Finnish pharmaceutical company Orion Oyj, whose shares rose nearly 11% to a price of 35.30 euros per share.

The German DAX 30 rose 2.32 percent to a level of 10 996.41 points, the French CAC 40 growth today is within 2.55% to a value of 4 757.22 points.

Athens Stock Exchange remains closed until next week, along with the country's banks.

The mining sector was one of the generators of growth of the leading index of the London Stock Exchange - FTSE 100 today. Shares of Rio Tinto rose 2% to a price of 2525 pence, while trade in shares of BHP Billiton rose 1.6% to a price of 1206 pence.

The value of the FTSE 100 rose by 1.4% to 6 581.63 points.

BRICS countries formed their own monetary fund

The countries from the BRICS reorganisation officially launched into own Monetary Fund worth 100 bln. Dollars with which to help each other in case of financial problems. This week, members of the group Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa held a meeting in the Russian city Ufa.

According to statement of the governor of the Russian Central Bank Elvira, the Fund constitutes a "security tool" for the five countries and will enter into force on 30 July. China will have the largest capital - 41 billion Dollars. Brazil, Russia and India will participate with  18 billion Dollars, and South Africa - 5 billion.

Money will not be transferred from currency reserves of the countries until new needs appear. China, Russia and India have already ratified and the capital of BRICS bank is expected to reach 100 billion Dollars. According to the head of the Russian bank VTB Andrey Kostin there is a "growing interest" BRICS countries to start using local currencies in trade relations.

According to Nibulina the fund is intended to solve "short-term liquidity problems and balance of payments." She gives an example of when it may be needed similar buffer like the  crisis in 1998, when Russia collapsed on its debt in local currency. However,  Nibulina assures that the country sees no need and no intention to use the new fund soon. Last year, Russia consumes nearly 90 billion Dollars from its reserves to control the sharp devaluation of the ruble. 

Banks in Greece remain closed

The banks in Greece will remain closed until  Thursday (9 July).

The news comes hours after the European Central Bank (ECB) tightened the conditions to the Greek financial institution for access to emergency liquidity support.

The decision of ECB comes at the eve of a key meeting of the Eurozone countries for the fate of Greece. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had declared that the banking holiday will end on Monday (7 July).

The situation is getting worse due to the refusals for financing from the IMF and the ECB since Athens has not paid the installment of 1.6 billion Euros to the IMF.

Disturbing data was presented - the Greek Guarantee Fund deposits have only 3 billion  Euros, which are quite insufficient in event of bankruptcy of the local banks.

Greek banks have a liquidity buffer of about 1 billion Euros.

European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) announced that Greece is in bankruptcy!

Oxi....and what follows?

The referendum that was held yesterday in Greece surprised with the strong prevail of citizens voted NO. 

Surprisingly, first because preliminary surveys pointed to a moderate parity in the results and, secondly, because after a week of bank holidays and social tensions, which created the impression that the Greek people are beginning to understand the risks associated with exit of Greece from the eurozone and the falling in financial bankruptcy, and hence to economic isolation.

Greek people decided to support the Government of Tsipras during the week in which their country formally fell into bankrupt after failing to pay a debt of 1.5 billion euros to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The next huge obligation is to the European Central Bank (ECB) for the ammount of 3.5 billion Euros and the maturity date is July 20 – just after two weeks. It is logical to think that this debt will remain unpaid.

Interestingly, however, is how long will continue the support and the euphoria of the Greek people for Tsipras and confrontational policy against EU and creditors, because in addition to payments to creditors, the government should also provide money for pensions and salaries of state administration which is not small at all. The problem is that much of the process is now irreversible, and many of the bridges between Greece and its creditors were destroyed.

The ambiguity is total. One of the biggest problems is the lack of a process and a plan to guide the exit of Greece from the eurozone, which becomes more realistic scenario.

High risk event on 5th of July

In recent days we have witnessed an escalation of the Greek crisis, which causes very high volatility in currency markets. On 5th of July Greece will hold a referendum for approval or rejection of the austerity measures requested by EU. This very possibly will cause a significant impact on markets, especially on 5th and 6th of July!

My broker, ActivTrades,  again protects their customers by substantially limiting their potential losses and will temporarily increase the leverage required to 4 times for these instruments from 17:00 hours CET on Friday, 3 July 2015.

This measure was implemented on 15th of January when EUR/CHF fell more than 20% within minutes. It’s wonderful to have a reliable broker that warns on time about potential risks!

FOREX: EURAUD EURCAD EURCHF EURGBP EURHUF EURJPY EURNOK EURNZD EURPLN EURSEK EURSGD EURTRY EURUSD

INDICES: Blg20Jul15 Bra50Aug15 Esp35Jul15 Euro50Sep15 Fra40Jul15 Ger30Sep15 GerTecSep15 HKIndJul15 Ind50Jul15 Ita40Sep15 Jp225Sep15 Neth25Jul15 Nor25Jul15 Swi20Sep15 UK100Sep15 Usa500Sep15 UsaIndSep15 UsaRusSep15 UsaTecSep15 UsaVixJul15 USDIndSep15

FINANCIALS: EuBblSep15 EuBundSep15 EuStzSep15 UsaTBSep15 UsaTNSep15

METALS: Gold, Palladium, Platinum, Silver

Make sure you will have enough available margin in your account to support open positions on 3rd of July!

Full content of the notice you may find here.

ActivTrades Tools: Pivot Points Indicator and why should we use it

Traders use different indicators in order to help them predict the market movements. It is very useful to have a powerful indicator that could make your  trading decision right.

My broker, ActivTrades, offers an excellent indicator for their customers  -  Pivot Points Indicator. 
It has been developed for both MT4 and MT5 platforms with three levels of support and resistance.  

Pivot Points Indicator helps to determine the overall trend of the market depending on the high low and the closing rate from the previous day.

 And here’s for example how it works:

The lines displayed on the chart represent the Pivot Point (Orange) as well as Support and Resistance levels (Dark Blue, Maroon and Green). If the price is above the Pivot Point, the market is usually considered as bullish, whereas price below the Pivot Point is usually seen as a bearish market. Supports and resistances help determine potential reversals levels of the current market trend.

Pivot point (PP) = (High + Low + Close) / 3

Support and resistance levels are then calculated off the pivot point as follow:

First resistance (R1) = (2 x PP) - Low

First support (S1) = (2 x PP) – High

Second resistance (R2) = PP + (High - Low)

Second support (S2) = PP - (High - Low)

Third resistance (R3) = High + 2(PP - Low)

Third support (S3) = Low - 2(High - PP)

If you wish to take advantage of this exclusive tool, please follow this link.

GREEK BAILOUT FUND

Online campaign for the salvation of Greece and payment of the external debt of the country succeeded in collecting more than 1.3 million euros.

The Greek Bailout Fund in the online financing site Indiegogo collected less that 500 thousand Euro on 1^st of July.

Just for 24 hours the amount was increased by about 700 thousand Euro.

The idea to support Greece in this way is of 29-year-old Londoner, who actually has nothing in common with Greece and its problems. Thom Feeney decided, however, that with the help of many people could help the Greeks.

" All this dithering over Greece is getting boring. European ministers flexing their muscles and posturing over whether they can help the Greek people of not. Why don't we the people just sort it instead?” wrote Tom at Indiegogo.

" €1.6bn is what the Greeks need. It might seem like a lot but it's only just over €3 from each European."

By donating different amounts everyone can get a gift card with the image of Alexis Tsipras, a bottle of ouzo, feta cheese or a holiday for two in Athens.

More information you may find here.

Facebook will start to share ad revenue with video creators

Facebook will start to share revenue from ads with companies that publish videos directly to the social network. This is new step towards attracting more premium content, states Wall Street Journal.

The biggest social network in the world will offer their collaborators 55% of revenue from advertisements that appear with video content in the same way as it is on YouTube. The ad will be part of a new feature that shows clips of users on Facebook, who already watch video content on the platform. The social network will sell ads for the new program, which will start later this year.

Facebook generates more than 4 billion video watching every day, said the Chief Executive Director Mark Zuckerberg in April.

The company, which owns the largest social network, wants to convince the mass media to publish more videos to Facebook, before they upload them elsewhere. This is a way to increase advertising revenue from videos.

"The creators of premium content told us that if there is a way to profit from Facebook, they would publish significantly more," said Dan Rose, vice president of the company.

Currently Facebook share revenue from advertising with companies like New York Times and BuzzFeed, who upload videos directly to the social network. These media companies have decided that the ability to reach the 1.4 billion Facebook users worth decline in audience focused on their own sites.

Greece failed to meet its obligations to IMF

Greece became the first developed country that has failed to meet its obligation on time to the International Monetary Fund. Athens turned out without the necessary funds, after negotiations with creditors broke down over the weekend. Consequently, to the country was introduced capital controls.

The Balkan country had to transfer the IMF 1.55 billion Euros until Tuesday night - the biggest single missed payment in the history of the organization.

Yesterday Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras attempted to exit the critical situation by presenting new proposals that could help for the extension of the European rescue program. But so far, creditors prefer to wait for the Sunday’s referendum in which the electorate must state whether it accepts the reform requirements.

However there are rumors that the government will lobby for voting "yes", and even that may counterman the poll.

So far, the situation remains unclear and chaotic, and the balance may reverse to any direction.