For Currency Traders, the U.S. Shutdown Is Making a Bad Year Worse
The longest government shutdown in U.S. history has deepened the struggles of currency traders, turning an already difficult year into their worst in decades. The absence of key economic data has left markets uncertain and forecasts delayed.
The longest United States government shutdown on record is consigning currency traders to their worst year in decades as a dearth of economic data clouds the outlook for the dollar.
According to a BarclayHedge index, foreign-exchange investors are on track for their poorest annual performance since 2005. Wall Street banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. have already reported a decline in currency trading revenues during the last quarter.
Because crucial economic and market positioning statistics have not been published for weeks, traders remain cautious about making significant bets on the dollar’s direction. Quantitative funds have less quality data to process, forcing many analysts to postpone their market outlook updates.
Canada's leading source for investing news and insight reminded readers to confirm their newsletter subscriptions, noting minor signup issues that some users encountered.
Author’s Summary
The U.S. government shutdown has halted crucial economic updates, causing uncertainty in currency markets and dragging FX trading performance to its lowest in two decades.