North Korean cyber-attack tensions are unlikely to rattle markets.

The tensions between the US and North Korea over the recent cyber-attack on Sony Pictures is unlikely to rattle financial markets unless it escalates into something far more sinister.

The US blames North Korea for the Sony hacking scandal and on Monday North Korea’s entire internet access was switched off and the country was without the worldwide web. The USA has 152,000 internet access service points, North Korea has just 4. Obama said the US would retaliate at a time that suited them and with an appropriate punishment that fitted the crime. Was it the US Government who shut down North Korea’s internet access on Monday? The US won’t admit to doing it but unless it was a group of private hackers playing games with North Korea one would have to assume the US Government had something to do with it.

Don’t be side tracked with financial entertainment and focus on the big picture fundamental trends which are set in place by Central Banks.

LTG GoldRock Insider Report Extract: Tuesday 23rd December 2014

To trade or not to trade over Xmas?

It’s a question I get asked a lot around this time of year. Should I continue to trade and leave my positions open over Xmas or should I close all positions and take a break. To be frank there is no right or wrong answer and I for one don’t buy into the fact that financial markets go completely dead all of the time around the Xmas and New Year period. I have seen on many occasions over many years the currency and index market remain reasonably volatile around this time.

If you intend to have a holiday and break over Xmas then close your position and have a break. I only have one position in the market at present and just because Thursday is Xmas day doesn’t mean I will automatically close the trade Xmas eve.


Excerpt taken from Monday the 22nd December, 2014 LTG GoldRock Insider Report. Every morning Andrew Barnett provides the latest Forex News and Trading Discussion to LTG GoldRock Members.

Stock markets surge on US Fed rate suggestion.

The US stock market had its biggest one-day gain for 2014 as the Santa Rally returned in full force. The Dow Jones rose 2.43% or 421 points only needing to rise another 187 points to finish the year on a new high. Thursday was a classic risk on trading session as traders dumped the safe haven currencies of the Yen and Swiss Franc and piled back into the US Dollar and Pound. The US economy got another piece of positive economic news overnight with weekly jobless claims falling by 6,000 to 289,000.  

Andrew Barnett is Co-Founder of LTG GoldRock, a boutique financial education and investing company located on the Sunshine Coast, QLd Australia.

In other market news.

• US Industrial Production expanded 1.3% in the month of November from the same period last year. Another little sign the US economy is continuing to gain strength.
• The RBA Minutes from its December meeting are due out today at 11.30am AEDT so expect some increased volatility on the AUD at that time. Traders will be eager to see what the RBA committee discussed and whether or not there was any discussion or hints about a cut in the official cash interest rate in 2015. If this was the case the AUD will quickly slide lower.
• In case you are wondering if the tragic events that unfolded in Sydney yesterday and overnight impacted financial markets the answer is yes. The AUD yesterday morning around 10am local time dropped around 25 ticks and continued to make a new low in price throughout the day. The AUDUSD traded as low as 0.82005.

LTG GoldRock Director Andrew Barnett provides FX Market Analysis in the Daily GoldRock Insider Report. Register for the next LTG Goldrock Live Trading Room Session from www.ltggoldrock.com

China and the Greeks spark market sell off.

It wasn’t just one thing it was a number of things that sparked the sell off on stocks and drove the Yen off its lows. Tuesday was a great example of traders buying the Yen in times of stock market uncertainty.




Chinese stocks went down 5% which is the equivalent of the Dow Jones being down 900 points (a big down day on the Dow Jones is about 150) and Greek stock markets dropped over 12.7% which is the biggest single decline in 27 years.

The Greek government has called an election a couple of years early and overall Europe has a big struggle on its hands and countries such as Greece, Spain and Italy will cause more grief over coming months and years for the European Central Bank.

The full LTG GoldRock Review of this Forex News can be found in the GoldRock Insider Report for Wednesday 10th December 2014