Oil Prices & Forex Markets
May 28th, 2009
Learn forex Nitty Gritty. Discover Forex Magic Machine. Wall Street watches oil prices like a hawk. Remember the early part of 2008 when oil prices skyrocketed from near $70 to almost $150 within a few months. This was more than a 100% increase in oil prices. Many hedge funds heavily betted on the increase in oil prices and made a windfall.
Most of the increase in the oil prices was due to speculation by the hedge funds. When the stock markets crashed in the middle of 2008, most of the hedge funds had to liquidate their investments in oil futures to cover their stock portfolio losses. The prices came down just as they had gone up. The prices are down now due to low consumer demand in a global recession. But it is being predicted by the analyst that with a recovery in the global economy, the oil prices will go up again.
As oil prices go up, consumers have to spend more on oil. The more they spend on oil, the less they spend on other products. The less they spend on other products, the less profit other companies make. Declining profits means declining stock prices.
The opposite is also true. The less the oil prices become, the more Wall Street becomes optimistic about the profit potential of companies. This increased optimism leads to increase in stock prices. Two large futures exchanges are used to determine the prices of oil. They are the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYME) and the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE).
Historically, rising oil prices have been associated with falling stock markets. NYME is where most of the crude oil futures are traded. By monitoring the movement of the crude oil futures in NYME, you can develop a feel of the future economic situation of the United States. Since oil is heavily traded in US Dollar, this affects the US Dollar. The net effect is however a bit complicated.
Let’s take a look at it more closely. When oil prices increase, the demand for US Dollar also increases as most of the countries need US Dollar to pay for their oil imports. Increased demand for US Dollar means that it should appreciate.
But this is not the whole picture. Increased oil prices also affect the US economy. The question is which effect is more important for the currency markets.
The effect varies for different currency pairs. Suppose you are watching a currency pair that involves the USD and a currency representing a country that does well during the times of high oil prices. Take Canada that has huge oil reserves after Saudi Arabia. The effect would be depreciation in the value of USD/CAD pair. US imports more oil from Canada than any other country. And if you are watching a currency pair that involves USD and a currency whose economy is harmed by the rising oil prices, the demand for USD will rise.
So some currencies have positive correlation with oil prices and other currencies have negative correlation with rising oil prices. The currency pair CAD/JPY shows the strongest reaction to rising oil prices. Japan imports almost 100% oil.
When oil prices are going to rise again, watch for CAD/JPY currency pair. CAD is positively correlated with oil prices and JPY is negatively correlated. So CAD/JPY has the strongest reaction to rise in oil prices. It can be a very good currency pair to trade during times of rising oil prices.
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