Forex Crunches for the Weekend July 16

To the abyss and back. And all over again. The euro-zone debt crisis provided us with even more action this week. The markets are now closed, and it is time to sit back and enjoy some long term forex related articles before the action resumes. Here are my picks. Enjoy!

It wasn’t only the euro-zone. Ben Bernanke played an important role as well. The meeting minutes provided the first, subdued hint of QE3. His prepared statement for the testimony in Congress already provided more gems such as “initiate new purchases” and even a flattening out of the interest rate. EUR/USD and also other currency pairs rocked between these two themes.

• Kathy Lien provides a nice chart which breaks down the private and public debt of the PIIGS.
• Larry Greenberg reminds us of the Italian lira, as Italy got into trouble.
• Lior Cohen discusses the potential of gold prices.
• Joseph Cotterill explains why the ECB cannot help Italy (even if the upcoming president of the ECB will be Italian).
• Michael Greenberg lays out the profitability report for US brokers. Here is my analysis of the current situation.
• Mike Kulej discusses the new restrictions in trading precious metals.
• Andriy Moraru reports that the forex report analysis tool is out of beta.
• Francesc Riverola reports that a California pension fund retired State Street despite a forex lawsuit. Quite frustrating.
• Nathan Tucci, on Casey’s site, talks about trend continuation, a topic that keeps some traders up at night.
• James Wooley asks: how much money do you need in order to spread bet forex full time?

Here are some long term posts published on Forex Crunch this week:

• Europe Needs a Rate Cut. Now. – This would help more than another austerity plan.
• Transfer Union Taking Shape in Bond Buybacks – The long-term implications of a real solution for Greece.
• More Clients, Less Profitability – The current state of the US forex trading industry.