Risk management 101 This article is for you if you want a starter on risk management that is practical and simple to follow. I have written recently on the attitude required to manage money. . I have also written previously on the use of leverage and how using too much leverage is the bane of many traders accounts: This article combines those two principles into a practical guide to follow. In order to get the most of this article it will help if you have read the first two. This article is primarily aimed at those starting FX trading or those who have never laid out a risk management plan. I will make three points in this article all of which are designed to help you preserve your capital: ForexLive

How to start out in forex trading, from EagleFX Forex, often shortened to FX or the foreign exchange, is a global decentralized market for the trading of a wide variety of currencies. The forex market is the largest in the world, with billions of dollars being traded daily. Once you've selected a broker, whether it be a top brokerage such as EagleFX or a different brokerage option, the next step will be to create and fund a trading account. The information that follows will provide you with clear expectations of what to expect (and what to do) in the minutes that follow the completion of these steps. Currencies are always traded in pairs, and it will be up to you to predict whether one currency will climb or fall in opposition to another. The GBP/USD pair, for example, measures the value of the Pound against the value of the United States dollar. Currency pairs, as well as other assets, can be trade as CFDs. Contract for Difference contracts represent the price action of a variety of financial assets, such as currency pairs, commodities, cryptocurrencies and more. Within each asset class are underlying assets. An example here would be Apple, which falls under the stock group of assets. Will I Go Long or Short? One of the advantages of contract for difference trading is that you can opt to either go long or go short. Where standard, traditional investing centers on purchasing and holding an asset (you purchase an investment, hold onto that investment until its value rises, and then sell it off at a later time for a price that exceeds the price that was paid), CFD trading is different. When trading CFDs with EagleFX, you can enter into a 'Buy' trade or go long. This means that you've opened the position in the hope that the underlying asset's value is going to climb and that you will be able to exit the position, or sell at a higher price. There is also the potential to trade with the expectancy that the value of a specific underlying asset will decrease in value. In this scenario, you would enter into a 'Sell' position or go short. Here, you would close the position, buying back the contract at a reduced price. In doing this you would generate a profit on the price difference. Regardless of whether you're trading with long or short positions, if your trade goes as planned and the asset price moves in the predicted direction, you will earn money. If the opposite happens and the market moves against you, you'll take on a loss. The benefit of this type of trading is that you can earn money from price movement in either direction and will not be limited to only earning if the price increases. What About Leverage? Another benefit to forex, or CFD trading is leverage. In conventional investing, your earnings are limited by the amount of funds that you have to invest. It's pretty simple, actually. If you have $1,000 to invest, you can purchase up to $1,000 in assets. There are no freebies and no broker will give you more than you can afford. CFD, or FX trading is leveraged trading, which means that you can trade using amounts of money which exceed the total amount of funds that you have actually invested. For example, when trading with EagleFX, clients can access leverage up to 1:500. This means that it is possible to stretch a deposit up to 500 times its base value when trading. Sounds wonderful, right? Well, it can be. However, it is important to remember that both profits and losses can be magnified when leverage is being used. The level of potential reward increased when leverage is used, but so too does the level of potential loss. Avoid any broker that doesn't tell you that it's possible to lose more money when leverage is used. A reputable broker such as EagleFX will be clear and upfront with clients when it comes to making the risks that are associated with trading very clear. Last but not least, do be mindful of the costs associated with trading. Forex brokers do profit from spreads, so seek out a broker that offers low spreads. EagleFX is one such example, as they offer spreads starting at 0.1 pips and averaging 0.3 pips. Swaps and commission charges are also relatively standard within the industry, so keep this in mind as well. The best trader is a well-prepared trader, so be certain that you're completely prepared for those exciting first five minutes! This article was submitted by EagleFX.

Profits and when to take them This article is in response to a comment made by Anwar on the 'five tips for when you are struggling article' that I published on September 07.  At the bottom of the piece Anwar asked for an article on 'taking profits'.  So, here it is for you Anwar.  An article on 'when to take profits'. This article will outline seven places and times where it is sensible to take profits. They will include: Support and Resistance levels, the 40-60% of the average daily range, prior to major news events, before weekends, at the London fix and finally at the end of FX sessions.  Support and Resistance: take profits at key levels  The temptation when you are trading is to often to try and hold on to trades in the hope that they will crash through key support and resistance levels. This is a common trap to fall into. In reality, unless there is some extremely significant news, most daily support and resistance levels hold on the first test. As a result take profits when your trades go into those levels. Here is a simple, recent example. The GBP/USD pair has been sold heavily on Brexit concerns. The GBP fell down into the key daily support level of 1.2000 with seemingly little to indicate the GBP should be bought. This 1.2000 level was the ideal place to take profits. The temptation, going into 1.2000,  would have been to try and hold for the break of that level. It would have not been hard to convince yourself that 1.2000 would break.  Savvy traders, however, booked their profits and then waited for a 'fresh catalyst to get short'. The general rule of thumb is this: take profits at key support and resistance levels.  Average Daily Range: take profits at 40-60% of the ATR for intraday trades You analyse the currency pairs, pick your favourite pair and then you find yourself in, and in profit. Great. Again the temptation is to hold that for a home run. Although there are times to hold your intraday trades, the general rule of thumb is take intraday profits at around 40-60% of the average true range. You can plot the ATR on your chart.  This is usually around 25-50 points depending on the pair. Book those profits. Find your standard ATR indicator under 'indicators' in your MT4 terminal. Prior to major news events: Take profits prior to major news events You should always be aware of when major news is coming out. Generally speaking again, unless you are deep in profit (75+ points), you should take your profits. The temptation is to bring your stops to break even and try and catch a new move. Sometimes this can work, but if price is close to your entry , say sub 30 points away, then the news event, associated spread increase, and general volatility will often hit your stop. You end up with a break even trade (only to see price continue in the expected direction). So, if you are 100+ points in profit prior to major news, then holding through makes more sense. Otherwise, once again, book those profits before the expected volatility.  Before weekends: Take profits before the market closes Why have the weekend stress by holding positions over the weekend. Better to exit on Friday and enter again on Sunday/Monday. With Donald Trump being so prolific on twitter ,and the multitude of global risks we have at the moment it makes sense to close profits on Friday. It was on Friday August 23 when Adam reported on Trump announcing fresh tariffs on Chinese products after the market closed. Now, the sentiment was obviously for a safe haven play into the close, but even so the point is that unexpected events can occur on the weekend when you can't quickly close your position. I remember at the time that one forexlive.com reader was short gold into the close. I expect they had a very unpleasant weekend wondering what price Gold would gap higher to on the Sunday open. Not a nice scenario that we can avoid inflicting on ourselves.  London fix: be aware of price movements around the London fix A number of currency transactions take place at the London fix. These are currency orders placed by clients needing to make transactions for wage bills and general business costs and money movement.  Many of these transactions take place at 1600GMT and you can often see some unusual price movement around this time. It pays to have an awareness of price at this time as a sudden pop into a nearby support or resistance levels may be a good time to take profits. There are obviously some dark arts involved at this time of day, especially if traders are aware of large orders that clients are due to make at the London fix. One time to be aware of. At the end of FX sessions The end of FX sessions are good times to take profits. Each foreign exchange trading day can be divided into three different sessions: the Asian, European and American session. The session times can be seen in the chart below with GMT and EST times marked. In the chart below, the Tokyo and Australian sessions occur during the overnight and Asian session. This session has smaller volumes of trading activity and ranges are far narrower than in the other two trading sessions. As a result, you would use smaller stops and targets as the overall movement of the market is likely to be reduced. The end of the Asian session runs into the London/European session and the FX markets start to move into greater ranges. As the London session traders head out for their lunch, traders for the New York session arrive at their desks. Taking intraday profits prior to London lunchtime  1200GMT makes sense as traders in Europe close out positions before going out to lunch. moving Now, for a period of about 4 hours, the London and New York session's overlap. The best session to trade is the London session since it overlaps with the US session. In the chart above we can see that the London session opens at 0800 GMT (London time). That session runs for about four hours until the US session opens at 1300 GMT. From here there are four hours in the afternoon where both the London and the New York trading sessions are both taking place. Around 70% of all foreign exchange transactions take place during the hours of 0800 - 1700 GMT. It is the busiest time of the foreign exchange day.  The second part of the New York session is quieter that the first part, as the London traders have gone home. The close of the trading day happens at the end of the US session and the next day it starts all over again with the start of the Asian session around 0000 GMT. Volatility gets low from here, so again taking intraday profits now makes sense as the markets re-sets again ready for the Asian session.  October/November - March/April If you like this article, please leave a comment or recommend it as it lets me know which articles are of most use. Also, if you have a request for another article, please leave a message here and I might write a piece on it for another week.  ForexLive

A great taboo of our age Sex, religion and politics are easier to talk about than the 'M-word'. Well it's true. Money is very hard to talk about. I was talking to my friend who works in accounting a few months back and he was bemoaning the fact that whenever he tried to advise his extended family on their finances he rarely got anywhere. In fact he has resigned himself to the fact that his good advice was ignored by many in his family. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink and all that. In fact, in the UK at least, it is much easier to talk about sex, religion and politics than money. Money concerns are also the root of many mental health issues. So much so that Lloyds have launched an ad campaign titled,'Why do we find it so hard to talk about the M-word?'. There is some good general advice on the page, so well worth a look. It is the M-word that I want to talk about today. Money. It is not just generally speaking about money, but it is specifically talking about the money that is dedicated to trading FX. It is great advice, but advice I have personally never, ever heard before. That's shocking. Perhaps, because it is because it is such a taboo subject? Well, we love to push the boundaries here at ForexLive.com, so here is my take for all you traders. It is ultimately going to be relevant for you whether you are a retail trader, seasoned trader, or managing a large fund.  The received wisdom on money, and why it falls short  Search online and there are generallytwo bits of advice on money that get regurgitated. They are generally something like: Don't risk more than about 2% per trades and; Only trade with money that you can afford to lose. That's generally about as far as it goes and there is some truth in it. I have written pretty extensively about point number 1 about not over leveraging in a number of places. See here and here and here for more info. I don't want to tread over that ground today, instead I want to move on to point 2. The received wisdom which says that you should, 'Only trade with money that you can afford to lose'. It's bad advice and here is why. It's a subtle, but important distinction. There is no money that you can 'afford to lose'. Approaching trading this way with 'money you can afford to lose' is setting you up on completely the wrong mindset. Let me explain in the next section below. Brokers only make money when you trade There are some good brokers and there are some bad brokers, very bad. Some of the bad brokers are unregulated, unscrupulous and don't see their clients as customers to serve, but as suckers to extort. These are people with zero conscience. The sort of people who are just trying to rip people off. You know the sort, who would sell double glazing by befriending pensioners with dementia. As my friend's father would have said. LMF. (Low Moral Fibre).You see, these sorts of people want you to develop the mindset that your FX trading account is money to lose. They may provide you services, and trading signals all designed to do one thing and one thing only, generate commission on the spread for the broker. No money should be seen as 'money to lose'. Different people have different relationships to money. For some, money is their God. People will do evil things for money. Sometimes desperation leads them to that place, other times it is greed. Regardless, the love of money is the root cause of all kinds of evil.We know that. These abuses of money understandably lead some people to hate money. I understand that. I had a great Greek work colleague one time back in the naughties when I was working for a graphic design company who would refer to money as a 'necessary evil'. I sympathise with that view. However, personally I take a third way. In short it is this: Money is a great servant, but a terrible master. Money is a great tool. It is the glue to keeps us together. A good wage, a provided family, good healthcare, money for entertainment, to improve your surroundings. Treat your spouse, your kids. This is all made possible with money.These are all good things. The poor are served well when the resources of the rich (who have more than they need) are distributed to those who don't have enough. Look at some of the actions of the world's richest people. A British Business man, Brian Burnie, sold his $26 million dollar estate after his wife got cancerin 2009 when he sold his $26 million estate containing his home and luxurious hotel to fund his own charity, which involved accompanying and transporting cancer patients for free from their homes to the hospitals. Burnie explained that he wanted to help lessen the suffering that cancer patients often had to go through and hoped that his act would inspire other wealthy people to do the same. Nice guy right? Money, can be a great tool. Here is another list from the BBC of individuals using their wealth, for many peoples good. Money is your tool You see, money is your tool in this world to serve others. It may be just your family. That's ok, and that's good to provide for them. Ideally you provide for yourself, your dependents and have some more for those who need it too.So, you see, you have no money to lose. Don't approach trading as though you have money to 'lose'. Yes, you have money to risk. That's different though.You should always try to make the most of what you have got. Taking a risk is part of life and as soon as you enter (or even don't enter) a market you taking risk. You can't (and shouldn't) eliminate risk. You manage it. So, this is how I view my accounts. Whether I am trading my fund's accounts or my private account for my family. My aspiration is this: 'May I be a good steward of the funds entrusted to me'. So, copy me and tell those trying to take advantage of you to go and take a long walk down a short pier. You have no money to lose, only money to manage. So, be a great boss. Your own. If you like this article, please leave a comment or recommend it as it lets me know which articles are of most use. If you would like to have a different topic covered for future weeks, please leave a comment below. ForexLive

The Japanese Yen is a risk haven currency The Japanese Yen is a safe haven currency which investors rotate into during times of uncertainty. The Yen is most probably the largest risk sentiment mover and is the go to currency of choice for risk on and risk off moves. So, the next time there is a big shift in risk sentiment, remember that you are likely to see strong movements in the JPY. Falling equity markets=Risk off= YEN strength Rising equity markets=Risk on= YEN weakness Look at the reaction to the latest Trump news on an interim China deal to delay tariffs to see how the JPY reacts to positive risk sentiment. It serves as a useful lesson. Trump tweets positive US-China trade news, the S&P500 ticks up and the Yen ticks down (AUDJPY strength, see below). Risk sentiment is now remaining supported with 10 year yields up 2.72%  S&P500 up 0.59% and the Dow up 0.52% too. ForexLive

Watch the revisions Economic data is overrated. Don't get me wrong, data often leads to big moves in markets and once-in-awhile; a change in the trend. Much more often it's noise and a mash-up of confusing noise. So what's a better way to find the signal. One theory is that revisions offer better clues. If you look at the past 5 non-farm payrolls reports, they have all featured a downward revision to the prior. In that timeframe, benchmark revisions also cut a half-million jobs. The above chart shows a consistent gap between the initial release (titled 'actual' here) and the revised number. What's also interesting is that if you go back a year the revisions were consistently higher and that was followed by a series of strong numbers. Remember this all came in the context of economists and the Fed forecasting a slowdown to an average of +100K jobs. It's not just jobs data, it's something that applies all economic data. Keep an eye on it. ForexLive

Good border line to lean against The USDJPY on the hourly chart has seen a lot of swing levels in the 106.68 to 106.77 area.  I count 7 different swing highs going back to August 14 (see red numbered circles). Yesterday the price tested the level for the 7th time and backed off one final time before rebounding and finally breaking above.   What was resistance becomes support.  That is basic technical analysis. That's a bullish break. Stay above is more bullish.   The price momentum moved the price to 107.226, and started to correct.  If you put a Fibonacci retracement on the last trend move higher, the 38.2% retracement comes in at 106.655.  That happens to be just below the low swing level in our chart (see yellow area).   With the combination of the old swing area and the modest 38.2% retracement near the same area, that helps to make the area "more important" on a correction lower.    Stay above and the bulls remain fully in control.  The correction is just a modest one. The price remains above the old ceiling (now a floor).  Move below and things are not looking so great technically, as the prices would have moved back below the ceiling and also below its 38.2% retracement level.  That should be enough to frustrate longs, turning buyers into sellers. Today (so far), the price correction in the USDJPY has stalled in the yellow area and above the 38.2% retracement at 106.655. The low reached 106.691.  The bulls remain in control.  It may or may not stay that way, but the combo of the swing area and the 38.2% give a nice level to lean against where risk can be defined and risk limited.    So the lesson is look for ceilings (or floors) in combination with the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement. The area often gives a stronger clue for a low risk borderline for the buyers and the sellers to lean against. ForexLive

Some tips on how you can improve your trading This article will give you some helpful tips from a professional analyst and full-time trader's perspective. If you are just starting out on your trading journey, or even if you are some way down the track, read below for seven top tips in FX trading. Tip #1: Don't ignore trading psychology It is easy to see why trading psychology is an area that is often overlooked by traders, especially when they are starting out. However, seasoned traders, who have spent years in the markets, understand that the traders who are going to keep going for the long haul are those who have mastered their trading psychology. Trading is an incredibly emotional experience. The cold reality is that either you are going to control your emotions or they are going to control you. How you react and respond to those emotions will determine your long-term market success. So, tip #1 is to take time now to research and invest in your trading psychology if you have not already done so. Tip #2: Don't ignore fundamental analysis Technical analysis is intuitive and relatively easy to each. However, fundamental analysis is a slightly more involved skill and can seem impenetrable at first. Fundamental analysis is simply the ability to understand why the market is moving in a certain direction. For some, who see fundamental analysis as irrelevant, it is worth reflecting why nearly every single institutional trading firm invests large sums of money to get economic releases and analysis delivered to their trading desks within seconds. The Bloomberg terminal, for example, costs around $2000 per month. If technical analysis alone was sufficient for profitable trading then these serious trading firms would not invest so heavily in tools that were useless. Some simple ways to fast track your fundamental analysis skills are to invest in a news squawk, read analysts regularly, and get some 1:1 coaching. It will be an investment that will pay dividends in the long run and avoid costly early mistakes. Tip #3: Don't over-leverage One of the most important aspects of trading to grasp is the proper, and professional use of leverage. The use of leverage is arguably the most important aspect of risk management and proper risk management is the top priority for all professional traders. Managing risk is going to be the single most important factor in your success or otherwise as a forex trader. You must pay attention to this lesson, as this may be the one factor that is hindering your progress in the markets, as the improper use of leverage will make long term success almost impossible to achieve in the forex market. You can't trade if you have no capital left. In contrast, the proper use of leverage will prevent you from destroying your account, preserve your capital as a trader, and make you an attractive trader for high net worth individuals to invest in once you are successful. Tip #4: Don't ignore recent market sentiment Sentiment analysis is simply understanding the current mood of the market. The market, like a person, is subject to different moods. Correctly reading the market's mood is crucial in making profit. Now, if you misread a person's mood you may end up accidentally feeling the effect of a person's bad mood.  In a similar way, if you are unaware of the market's mood or sentiment, then you may end up with a losing trade. The market is an emotional melting pot, prone to wild mood swings which can be overly optimistic or very pessimistic. So how do you correctly read sentiment and keep in step with the market's present mood? You simply read up on the last two market wraps to see what the market is focused on. Did a central bank cut interest rates unexpectedly? Was there some really good or bad data out? Try to trade in step with the market by looking at what the market is focused on. This is a skill that needs to be practiced and you will get better at over time. Tip #5: Don't look at technical analysis as the holy grail of trading When traders begin their trading journey they will often have a fascination with technical analysis. Almost all traders have taken part on the quest to find the holy grail of trading systems. The thinking goes, 'If I could just find the right system I will have cracked it'.  Hours are then spent back testing through the charts, switching between systems week to week, all in search of the ultimate technical system. All too often is to little avail because that perfect technical setup fails and you are left wondering why. Eventually, those traders who persevere, will realize that the market is a fluid movement of price that reflects the economies across the world. Fundamental and sentiment analysis are the guiding lights on price. Technical analysis is simply the means by which successful traders define and limit their risk in a sensible way once the fundamentals are in place. In short, technical analysis is a great servant, but a terrible master. Tip #6: Don't ignore your trading environment It is also important to consider your trading environment. What is the layout of your trading area? If you are working on a trading floor you have a number of advantages. You have the squawk talking and the news terminals are constantly there for you. Your colleagues will be discussing events and the team will be given a session brief. The environment is conducive for the purpose of trading. Do you have enough screens to trade properly? Trading from one screen can be very difficult, especially trying to stay on top of multiple news stories, open the charts, and conduct research at the same time. So, having a minimum of three screens would be really helpful in your trading environment. The layout would look something like this: • One screen for your news feeds and squawk• One screen for your trading platform• One screen for your research screen By being able to react quickly and keeping well informed you will find that mistakes will be less likely to occur. A multi-monitor setup will help you achieve this.  Also, the location of your trading desk is important. Are you trading in the middle of a room with two dogs, four children and a wife all competing for your attention? Do you have a dedicated space? Is your chair comfortable? Now, you may not be able to achieve a complete solution straight away, but you should move towards it. Pay attention to your physical environment because it will impact your trading performance. Tip #7: Always be aware of when high impact events are coming out You see a great news story and price is in a great technical place. You buy your instrument and then, 20 minutes later you see that you were stopped out on a large spike. You forgot to check the news and some top-tier scheduled data was released. A school boy and preventable error. You either write the timing of the data down or just know when the news relevant to your instrument is going to be released. Get into the habit of looking forward into the events calendar before placing a trade By following these seven tips you will save yourself time, money, and wasted energy pursuing the wrong avenues in your trading ventures. This article was submitted by InstaForex. ForexLive

An overview of trading bonuses and how they can help you For most people, financial markets are no longer a part of some parallel universe that can be explored by the chosen ones only. On the contrary, almost everyone has bank cards, the vast majority has long lines of credit, like mortgages or car loans, some people invest in simple trading instruments (deposits, individual investment funds, etc.), but the most sophisticated ones are active participants of the financial markets since trading is their full-time job. Here we talk about forex traders who do not settle for a mere pittance that can come from individual investment accounts or mutual funds. They are eager to reap gains on their own rather than wait for an investment management company to use their money and hope that it will share profits with them. It is widely known that the key to success for a forex trader is the right mindset, a trustworthy broker, patience, experience, and so on. However, few people have ever come upon the thought that bonuses can also play a significant role. Surprisingly, it is the same very bonuses that are usually considered to be nothing else but a  marketing ploy. Actually, bonuses are something like a promise on a first date: they can make it clear whether the relations are going to be short-lived or a partner has serious intentions. As in daily life, it is the reliability, reputation and size that really matter. When some second-rate, third-rate or even noname companies offer bonuses, they are most likely just trying to bait clients. But when it comes to first-rate brokers that value their reputation and customers' loyalty, then the bonus is a springboard. It can serve as an initial capital or a sort of leverage. It can open up the way towards real trading on a large-scale basis. However, under the tight market conditions, a large number of participants, and a great diversity of bonus campaigns, it can be difficult to choose the proper offer. As an example, let us take the bonus campaigns of InstaForex, one of the world's biggest brokers. For over 10 years, its offers have been enabling millions of traders to gain confidence and start making money. In particular, the bonuses have been helping them with it.  https://www.instaforex.com/instaforex_bonuses ForexLive Remarkably, InstaForex has a wide choice of bonuses for trading that differ by size, conditions for receipt, and terms of use. The main thing is that the profits generated from any of the InstaForex bonuses can be withdrawn without any restrictions. So, let us find out what type of bonus can suit your trading strategy, your deposit, and your trading goals. 100% Bonus To get 100% Bonus for the initial deposit, all you need to do is to register a live account, replenish it, and apply for the bonus. The bonus is credited to a deposit of no more than $2,000 and is not withdrawable. However, the profits generated from 100% Bonus can be withdrawn without restrictions. For deposits above $2,000 special conditions for the bonus receipt are applied. By the way, the bonus is available to both new and existing clients of InstaForex.Those who already have an account just need to register a new one and top it up in order to get the bonus.55% BonusInstaForex provides another lucrative offer - the bonus of 55% for every deposit. It can be accrued on the accounts that were opened no earlier than on June 15, 2013. With this bonus, your deposit can be increased by over 1.5 times every time you replenish your account. The size of 55% Bonus from InstaForex is not limited and is credited to every deposit regardless of the results of your trades.Welcome Bonus 30%InstaForex invites its clients to get a welcome bonus of 30% to their trading accounts. To get extra 30% to a deposit, it is necessary to register a live account and apply for the bonus.Club BonusEvery client of InstaForex who owns InstaForex Club card is entitled to get the Club Bonus. If you are not a member of InstaForex club yet, you can join it right now on the club's page. To get the bonus, all you need to do is to register a live trading account, join InstaForex Club, and fill out the application form. Each of these procedures is simple and does not take much time.This article was submitted by InstaForex.

A wealth of information  It is always worth having a look through central banks minutes as they are often helpful in providing background information or a general overview on the present market conditions. I recommend beginner traders taking some time to do this as it starts to key them in with the major market themes. So, as an example, one question that the RBNZ answeredin their last policy statement was, 'How are weaker global conditions affecting New Zealand's economy?' The following answers, and more, were given by the RBNZ to the question above: New Zealand is a 'small open economy, so global economy and financial market conditions have a large influence on our business cycle'. The RBNZ's domestic forecasts are based on the channels which impact the NZ economy and the highest levels are, 'trade, financial markets and confidence business/uncertainty' Weaker global conditions often lead to lower prices for NZ exports, imports and reduced tourist spending. These minutes were enough to give a clue as to the importance of the business confidence data coming up on Thursday. So, always worth reading the minutes through from time to time. ForexLive