While some of us are taking it easy and not doing much of anything, representatives of our governments are hard at work combating the crisis. Another round of G-20 discussions has been taking place over last few days, with a wide array of subjects on the agenda. Most notable is the matter of stimulus packages and bailouts that member countries introduced in order to improve their respective economies. Representatives agreed that recoveries were under way and the steps previously taken have been effective. They came short of defining exit strategies, something that is becoming a subject of ever more frequent debates. Everybody agrees that withdrawing  money from the system will have to be done in an organized and maybe coordinated way, but not yet. More time is needed to strengthen both markets and confidence.

Many other things were on the agenda, including compensation of executives, something that has been sidelined for a while. I think this time delegates were talking about banking executives and how their pay packages should be regulated. Apparently this was one of the reasons behind financial disasters of last couple of years. No steps were taken at this time, but should our governments really decide how much money people are allowed to make? On the other hand, I remember the Washington Mutual debacle, where Kerry Killinger, after running the company to the ground, was ousted as a CEO with about $15 Million of parting bonuses. To make it even more interesting, his successor, one Alan Fishman, received a little less than $20 Million for being on the job 18 days. I guess not everybody forgot. Still, no limits and regulations at this time.

Currencies are a little more active than I thought they’d be. Australian Dollar has made a new high for the year and Kiwi is not far behind. Interestingly, talks are being heard about NZD becoming too strong for comfort. More about it in the next post. Meanwhile, slow trade suggested yesterday, is, well, slow. EUR-CHF is crawling up at snail’s pace, triggering the buy order at 1.5193. The way things are going, it will last couple more days. While waiting for this pair to get to start moving, I’m placing an order in another equally slow cross.

AUD-CAD is not a very explosive currency pair. Very often both of the Dollars exhibit either either strength or weakness at the same time, which makes their inter-play not very exciting. These movements, however, do happen and I trade them. Last time Aussie-Loonie set up was featured here it made 100 pips. Why not try again? I’m placing a sell order at 0.9186, expecting a price break. My target is not very ambitious, with objective of only 50 pips. Maybe few more.

Mike K.