Dollar ready to rally to NFP disappoint, reality in the

Dollar Ready to Rally after NFPs Disappoint, Reality Setting In Euro Down Sharply Against Safe Havens and Carry Currencies this Week British Pound As Exposed as Ever, BoE Stimulus Merely Waters Currency Down Japanese Yen: JGBs Close at Recent Historical Low, Stimulus Ahead? Canadian Dollar Offers Limited Labor Data Reaction, Don’t Write Off Late Reaction Swiss Franc Fight Growing Costly for SNB According to Reserves Update Gold: In the Absence of Balance Sheet Growth, Dollar is a Better Safe Haven Dollar Ready to Rally after NFPs Disappoint, Reality Setting In
Since peaking at 21-month highs back at the beginning of June, the US Dollar has struggled to regain traction. Then again, currency has withstood a general risk appetite run that has otherwise lifted equities and other growth-linked assets to two-month highs. This resistance taps into the underlying fundamental current that has defined a tangible deterioration in growth and yield expectations to be further supplemented by a sense of hope. A rational assessment of ‘risk’ and ‘reward’ for these markets offers a very discouraging picture of the investment landscape. For potential return, the aggregate yield of the major currencies’ 10-year government notes (Treasuries are arguably the foundation for all rates of return) is just off of the record low set back in June. Furthermore, it is fully 38 percent lower than the low-point back in 2009 (in the aftermath of the worst crisis in modern history and the massive stimulus effort that follows). The only reprieve in the standard equilibrium is that volatility readings are still exceptionally low and set lower peaks when they do swell – perhaps the greatest effect stimulus has had.
Restraint on volatility (risk) does not translate into a strong position to foster risk trends. Given the exceptionally low levels of return in the market, it wouldn’t take much to scare the holdouts from their positions. So what has kept sentiment buoyant and the dollar under pressure? Hope. Hope that central bankers or lawmakers would take advantage of critical policy gatherings to expand their support of the system – or at the very least inject capital into the system to provide a temporary high. Yet, the Greek election, Fed rate decision, EU Summit and ECB rate decision have one after the other fallen short of the type of stimulus that speculators have grown addicted to. Moving forward, the docket critically lacks the kind of events that the market would typically peg as opportunities for officials to announce more support. If that is the case, enduring bulls will have to seriously evaluate the soundness of their positions. Readings like the disappointing NFPs release this past Friday will carry greater weight. In the upcoming week, we should watch specifically for the Chinese 2Q GDP reading and start of US 2Q earnings season.
Euro Down Sharply Against Safe Havens and Carry Currencies this Week
Little more than a week ago, a number of Euro Zone officials were trumpeting the success in the EU Summit’s compromise towards passing agendas that had received tremendous debate but gained little practical traction in the preceding months. The euro wasn’t immune to the exuberance as the currency won its biggest single-day rally since October 27. However, we made the technical and fundamental connection to that previous rally as a Greek restructuring that did little to solve the region’s underlying problems and the EURUSD’s subsequent, multi-week tumble immediately after the rally. The Summit’s vows (a common bank overseer, dropping seniority on Spanish bailout funds, directly funding banks using the ESM and allowing the ESM to purchase government bonds) are so far still promises without action. We’ve been here many times before with European programs that merely buy time rather than solve problems, and it has made this market skeptical. The ECB assured that stimulus hopes would be further flushed (and cut the currency’s yield to boot). That left us open to the a dose of reality Friday that banks were closing European money market funds (removing havens for liquidity in rough seas), Spanish yields climbed back up to 7 percent and Greece announced it was dropping its bid for easier conditions on its second bailout. On Monday, the ESM is expected to begin operation and Finance Ministers are expected to meet; but given the EURUSD’s two-year low, it seems the market doesn’t seem much potential.
British Pound As Exposed as Ever, BoE Stimulus Merely Waters Currency Down
Various Bank of England officials have repeatedly warned that the Euro Zone crisis poses the greatest threat to the UK’s financial and economic health. These warnings are starting to gain more traction amongst pound traders. This past week’s decision to lift the bond purchasing program by 50 billion sterling was a move directed at bolstering growth and shoring markets in the event of a crisis spread; but if EU situation did prove infectious, those efforts would matter little. To truly prevent a crisis in Great Britain, the Euro Zone must be stabilized. And that looks unlikely.
Japanese Yen: JGBs Close at Recent Historical Low, Stimulus Ahead?
The benchmark 10-year JGB (Japanese Government Bond) yield dropped Friday to close at its lowest level (0.80 percent) on record. We could label this a safe haven move by the markets (as people pull funds into the world’s second largest economy) or a natural side effect of capital repatriation by Japanese investors. However, there is also a meaningful sense of stimulus forecast in this move. Next week, we have the BoJ rate decision on Friday. Over the past weeks, central banks have eased (the ECB took deposit rates to zero), setting the stage for Japan.
Canadian Dollar Offers Limited Labor Data Reaction, Don’t Write Off Late Reaction
Though the headline employment change number wasn’t as extraordinary as some of the readings earlier this year, the June data was nevertheless solidly bullish. The 7,300 person increase in payrolls marks the fourth consecutive increase and was backed by a 29,300 net increase in full-time positions. Furthermore, wage growth accelerated to a near, three-year high. The loonie’s hold up was its relationship to the US fundamental backdrop. That said, Canada is truly standing out for its relative financial health – a boon against fellow high yielders like AUD.
Swiss Franc Fight Growing Costly for SNB According to Reserves Update
We have known that the SNB’s effort to stem the franc tie hasn’t been going very well – not difficult to interpret given the EURCHF’s refusal to rise from 1.2000. Yet, nothing puts the situation into better perspective than seeing the amount of funds put into the effort. The central bank released its May FX reserves. Is the 20 percent increase over the month to a record 365 billion francs enough to encourage a fresh policy approach? Buying an unlimited amount of euros as a regional crisis intensifies hardly seems a viable strategy.
Gold: In the Absence of Balance Sheet Growth, Dollar is a Better Safe Haven
Gold is an ideal alternative to currencies and safe haven government bonds that are otherwise manipulated by their respective monetary authorities. So then why hasn’t gold gained these past weeks with Operation Twist 2, the PBoC rate cut, ECB rate cut and EU Summit vows? These are certainly efforts to ease, but they don’t bolster balance sheets. Furthermore, there is the lingering issue of liquidity.
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ECONOMIC DATA
Next 24 Hours
Early business activity measures.
JPY Current Account Total (Yen)
The forecasted trade deficit for May is expected to tip the third biggest shortfall on record.
JPY Adjusted Current Account Total (Yen)
JPY Trade Balance - BOP Basis (Yen)
JPY Current Account Balance (YoY)
CNY Consumer Price Index (YoY)
Easing inflation could help guide the stimulus to austerity balance.
CNY Producer Price Index (YoY)
Hit a near, three-year high last month.
JPY Eco Watchers Survey: Current
Business activity indicators that reflect on a volatile economic situation.
JPY Eco Watchers Survey: Outlook
A slip in the jobless rate will do nothing more than make the franc a slightly better safe haven.
Trade is one of the primary reasons Germany fights so adamantly to retain the euro and EMU.
EUR German Current Account (euros)
EUR German Trade Balance (euros)
EUR Euro-Zone Sentix Investor Confidence
Critical confidence measure for a troubled region.
CAD Business Outlook Future Sales
Rarely market moving but important measures to confirm financial stability
CAD Bank of Canda Senior Loan Officer Survey
With wages and employment stagnating, consumer spending depends on credit.
Euro Area Fin Mins Meet in Brussels
Alcoa First Bluechip to Report 2Q Earnings
USD Fed's Evans Speaks in Thailand
USD Fed's Williams Speaks in Idaho
SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE LEVELS
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CLASSIC SUPPORT AND RESISTANCE –EMERGING MARKETS 18:00 GMTSCANDIES CURRENCIES 18:00 GMT
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A Reality Check About Who Really Owns Your Business And What You Can Do To Protect Yourself

If you think that you are a proud owner of your own online business, think again.

We are often ignorant of this harsh truth, yet it’s there – lurking behind like a thief at night.

This truth hit me on the head a few weeks back when Twitter shut down my empire of some 130K followers.

Then, as I was reading my readers’ comments, I realized that we truly don’t own our businesses – we are at the mercy of many online giants that have much more control and say over our successes and failures than we care to admit.

1. Your web hosting company

Yes, they are your worst nightmare. Whether you “own” one website or many, they can shut you down in a blink of an eye for any number of reasons and it happens every day.

Of course, some hosting companies might be considered more reliable than others, but in the end, no matter who you are with, your website is still at their mercy.

It gets even worse if you choose to build a blog on a free blogging platform like Blogger.com, or WordPress.com.

They host your blog for free and in return they expect you to follow their mile-long Terms of Service to the “T” and, if you as much as sneeze in the wrong direction, they’ll shut you down in a jiffy.

2. Google

Many blogs drive a significant amount of traffic from Google organic rankings and we all want more of it.

And why not? Search engine traffic is the most hands-free, leveraged, and targeted traffic you can get.

However, it’s no secret that Google traffic comes at a price.

Constant algorithm changes on a daily basis, contradictory information as to how Google works and how we can take advantage of it, plus what seems to be a sheer draw of luck that can make or break our search engine traffic flow.

3. Social Media

Social media is yet another huge traffic source for most of us.

Unfortunately, we can think all we want that building a following on any social media platform is time well-invested that will result in a constant traffic flow back to our blogs.

However, in the end, just like with Google, we don’t own this traffic source and are completely at the mercy of the network with all their grayish terms of service that they can bend anyway they want to and we are left with having to accept whatever they decide to do with us.

I am sure I can come up with a few more reasons of how your business can go out of business in a blink of an eye simply because someone else snapped their fingers, but I am sure you get the point and are more interested on learning HOW TO diversify your business in a way that makes it more “slap-proof”.

1. TRAFFIC DIVERSIFICATION

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket; that simple.

Essentially, you have three major sources of traffic:

Direct Traffic: the bulk of this traffic comes from people typing your URL in their address bar. These are your regular readers or people who are familiar with your brand enough to look you up by name.Search Engine Traffic: traffic that comes from rankings.Referral Traffic: any traffic you get when someone clicks on your site link located somewhere outside your site: social media, other blogs, etc.

Obviously, this is a very simple explanation of traffic sources, but it’s good enough for me to make this point:

You need to develop ALL THREE traffic sources to make sure that your site still gets visitors should any one of the sources suddenly dry up.

As a rule of thumb, you should work towards getting no more than 40% of your traffic from the search engines, about 40% from various (not one!) referral sources, and the rest as direct traffic.

2. BUILD AN EMAIL LIST

If your site gets shut down today, traffic diversification will become a mute point.

You need to find ways to keep your business going and income coming EVEN IF you all of a sudden don’t have your site any longer, and this is where building an email list comes in.

Your email list is one of those assets that will stay with you and even follow you should you decide to change your business direction.

They are the people who respect you enough to allow you access to their inboxes, who want to hear and learn from you, and who you’ve built relationships with.

Even if worse comes to worse and your business doesn’t have a home (i.e. website) any longer, your email list will prove to be the best way to continue generating income.

3. CREATE A PRODUCT

If you have your own product, the possibilities are endless.

You can sell it completely independently of your main site, for instance on Amazon.com, Clickbank, Ebay, or any other selling platform out there.Your product can (and should) have its own site that functions independently of your main site.You can create a network of affiliates that will work for you around the clock to bring your products to many more potential buyers.

4. NICHE MARKETING

Niche marketing is a great way to generate some fairly passive income – once all the “leg work” of researching, building, and ranking is done, of course.

You can create an independent network of many sites, thus creating many possibilities of generating income, as well as ensuring that, if one or even a couple of these sites go down, your business will continue to function.

While I am no expert on niche marketing, I know just the right people to go to if you’d like to learn more.

Let’s start with Yaro himself.

His online career started with niche marketing: creating a very successful card game site and, later, a proof-reading/essay editing business.

To learn more about his journey, take a look at his post on:

One of E-J’s very own authors, Sunil from The Extra Money Blog, also happens to be a niche marketing maven. Take a look at his latest contribution on the topic:

Then there is also a fantastic webinar with Adam Short, who breaks down his niche marketing process in detail:

If you’d like to learn even more, I strongly recommend you check out Pat Flynn from SmartPassiveIncome.com and his famous Niche Site Duel, where you can follow Pat on his journey to build a niche site step-by-step.

5. AFFILIATE MARKETING

There are two ways of going about it:

Through your main site: that’s the way most marketers, including Yaro and me, do it. We use our existing readership plus existing domain authority to produce the best possible results. However, that’s not the only way to do it though.Through niche sites: the idea behind this is simple – you create a site solely based around a specific product, add some related content, get a keyword-rich domain name (including the product name), and then work on ranking it highly on Google. Very similar to the way niche marketing works.

Whether one method works better than the other, I can’t tell you – I’ve never personally built a niche affiliate marketing site. Enough people do it however, which makes me believe that it does work.

In the light of the post topic though – how to slap-proof your business – creating affiliate marketing niche sites definitely achieves the goal.

And there you have it.

The bigger net you create today by spreading your traffic and income sources, the more stable business you can rely on in the future.