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FXBEACON: TENNIS | SAILING | FX | PRIVATE EQUITY

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Seven years ago, my wife took the liberty of signing me up for a tennis team without my knowledge. She thought I needed a hobby to balance the demanding world of finance, which absorbed most of my time.  After getting past some growing pains, I fell in love with the sport. Then, last year I […]

FX Markets Update: Term Structure Implies More Movement In the Short-Term

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Download PDF SUMMARY Throughout 2023 FX volatility has been trending lower amid range bound markets. Volatility reached the lowest level earlier this month and there has been a small rally. Across all currencies the term structure of volatility has become more inverted (short dates have rallied more than longer dates). The option prices seen in […]

FX Markets Update: June 2023

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  Download PDF SUMMARY Global inflation remains stubbornly high. The Bank of England remains on course to deliver additional interest rate hikes. The European Central Bank is on track for two more rate hikes, in July and September. Euro-area core inflation remains one of the biggest issues for the ECB. The US paused at its […]

Anticipated Surge of Cross Currency Movement

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Download PDF SUMMARY Throughout 2022, the major currencies became closely correlated as the US dominated market movements.  This was driven by the Fed’s tightening of monetary policy, with other countries following suit. We can see in the chart below, the USD strengthened against all major currencies and as a result there were limited movements in […]

50-Years of Black-Scholes: Nobel Victory, Options Revolution

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  C=S N(d1​) − Ke−rt N(d2​)   In the annals of financial history, few accolades hold as much prestige and recognition as the Nobel Prize.  Such is the case with the Black-Scholes options pricing model, which achieved the remarkable feat in 1997 thanks to the persistence of a select group of professionals who saw its […]

Inflation Unveiled: The Power of Interest Rates

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Why are central bank interest rates increasing? On May 11th, we saw the Bank of England increase its key interest rate to 4.5%, its highest rate in almost 15 years, just as the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank also increased their interest rates the week before to 5.25% and 3.75% respectively. Inflation […]

Risk of USD/JPY Weakness Seen in the Options Markets

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SUMMARY The next Bank of Japan meeting is scheduled for 16 June which will be the second meeting with new governor Ueda in charge. There is a possibility that the Ueda will make changes to the BOJ yield curve controls. The market is starting to position for the risk of a downward move in USD […]

Comprehensive Guide to FX Hedging for Corporate Risk Management

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Download PDF WHAT IS FX HEDGING? FX hedging, also known as foreign exchange hedging, is a strategy used by companies and investors to mitigate or reduce the risk of loss due to fluctuations in foreign exchange rates. FX hedging involves using financial instruments or strategies to offset the risk of currency movements that could negatively […]