In January 2015 at a Managed Funds Association conference I presented findings on the apparent relationship between commodity trading advisor (CTA) drawdowns and the Federal Reserve balance sheet, specifically the outright held securities part of it). The theme of the panel, and a subsequent research paper was: “Managed Futures and CTAs — Where are We and What's Next?”

In perhaps the least surprising development of the year, the European Central Bank left all its interest rates and its asset purchase program unchanged in this morning’s monetary policy meeting. Headlines from ECB President Mario Draghi’s press conference follow:

The general theme in our recent posts has been about a possible correction or a retracement of some sort in US dollar. The greenback has indeed stopped going up but it hasn’t exactly sold off. Well, at least not yet anyway.

Six years to the day after ECB President Mario Draghi vowed to do “whatever it takes” to preserve the euro, the currency union is doing is certainly on stronger footing than it was then.

Global equity benchmarks are ripping back this morning as trade tensions have found a way into the back seat of investors’ minds. In fact, the small-cap and domestically focused Russell 2000 notched a record high on Monday, matched it yesterday and extended such gains in today’s session.

FIFA has trumped forex so far in trade this week, with the major currencies consolidating in relatively tight ranges against one another. The U.S. dollar is consolidating against its rivals so far today, gaining ground against the commodity dollars and pound sterling but losing ground against traditional safe havens such as the yen and Swiss franc.

FIFA has trumped forex so far in trade this week, with the major currencies consolidating in relatively tight ranges against one another. The U.S. dollar is consolidating against its rivals so far today, gaining ground against the commodity dollars and pound sterling but losing ground against traditional safe havens such as the yen and Swiss franc.

It’s been a relatively mixed start to trading in Europe on Friday and the United States is on course to post small losses at the open, as the focus shifts from central banks back to trade.

As my colleague Fawad Razaqzada noted earlier today, the euro spiked briefly after this morning’s ECB meeting before reversing violently back to the downside in a mirror of yesterday’s price action in the US dollar.