Global markets gulped a major dose of disappointment after China`s trade balance fell to an unexpected deficit, in line with retracting consumer prices last week.Trade balance came in at a deficit of $880 million March, opposite to market expectations for a surplus, signaling the momentum of China`s nascent economic recovery is peeling off quite evidently at this stage.The loss of drive to China`s trade was mainly due to exports rising only shy of expectations in March, outpaced by imports and a tepid performance of the manufacturing Purchasing Managers` Index (PMI), with production falling to 11-month low.But still the economy sighed relief with consumer prices falling back, indicating inflation rates are coming to a balance, pushing for more stimulus by the country`s policymakers, especially in light of the unexpected trade deficit. The effect befell upon Asia`s largest economy seems to have spread to the runner-up, Japan, as the trade balance deficit deepened in February, indicating a retraction to the general economy. Nonetheless, the country`s current account displayed a surplus, helped by a weaker yen.Unconventional measures adopted by the monetary policymakers in the Bank of Japan`s will be undoubtedly fruitful, perhaps not in the upcoming period, but they will be pushed closer with expected cash stimulus to guarantee swift responses.BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda pledged to make use of any means necessary to rejuvenate Japan`s economy, end 15-year long deflation and meet the target 2 percent inflation rate at a maximum time-limit of two years. The yen`s now stable value is in the perfect place of bolstering Japan`s exports and securing a long-anticipated surplus of the country`s economic indicators, ultimately perhaps helping Kuroda meet his pledges.

1. An increase in the value of a capital asset (investment or real estate) that gives it a higher worth than the purchase price. The gain is not realized until the asset is sold. A capital gain may be short term (one year or less) or long term (more than one year) and must be claimed on income taxes. A capital loss is incurred when there is a decrease in the capital asset value compared to an asset's purchase price.2. Profit that results when the price of a security held by a mutual fund rises above its purchase price and the security is sold (realized gain). If the security continues to be held, the gain is unrealized. A capital loss would occur when the opposite takes place.

1. Long-term capital gains are usually taxed at a lower rate than regular income. This is done to encourage entrepreneurship and investment in the economy. 

2. Tax conscious mutual fund investors should determine a mutual fund's unrealized accumulated capital gains, which are expressed as a percentage of its net assets, before investing in a fund with a significant unrealized capital gain component. This circumstance is referred to as a fund's capital gains exposure. When distributed by a fund, capital gains are a taxable obligation for the fund's investors.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., the biggest U.S. bank by assets is being investigated by eight federal agencies amid suspicions the bank did not fully alert authorities to concerns about Bernard L. Madoff.

Madoff is now in prison for an $18 billion Ponzi scheme, and there are indications that JPMorgan was not forthcoming with authorities on suspicious trades related to Madoff, as required by law.

Among the agencies investigating JPMorgan there is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Securities, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

“We believe that the personnel who dealt with the Madoff issue acted in good faith in seeking to comply with all anti-money laundering and regulatory obligations”, JPMorgan spokesman Joe Evangelisti said

Binary Options

In finance a binary option is a type of option where the payoff is either some fixed amount of some asset or nothing at all. The two main types of binary options are the cash-or-nothing binary option and the asset-or-nothing binary option. The cash-or-nothing binary option pays some fixed amount of cash if the option expires in-the-money while the asset-or-nothing pays the value of the underlying security. Thus, the options are binary in nature because there are only two possible outcomes. They are also called all-or-nothing options, digital options (more common in forex/interest rate markets), and Fixed Return Options (FROs)  Binary options are usually european style options.

When buying a binary option the potential return it offers is certain and known before the purchase is made. Binary options can be bought on virtually any financial product and can be bought in both directions of trade either by buying a “Call”/“Up” option or a “Put”/“Down” option. This means that an investor can go long or short on any financial product simply by buying a binary option. Binary options are offered against a fixed expiry time which may be e.g. 5–30 minutes in the future, an hour ahead or at the close of the trading day. Binary options once bought cannot be resold before the expiry time is reached.

For example, a purchase is made of a binary cash-or-nothing call option on XYZ Corp's stock struck at $100 with a binary payoff of $1000. Then, if at the future maturity date, the stock is trading at or above $100, $1000 is received. If its stock is trading below $100, nothing is received.

In the popular Black scholes model the value of a digital option can be expressed in terms of the cumulative normal distribution function. Due to the difficulty in hedging binary options that are ATM near expiry, they are much less traded than vanilla options, but can be approximated with vertical spreads

The euro (EUR) dropped sharply against the US dollar (USD) after managing to regain some previous losses. The pair is moving below 1.2800 as its trying to settle in a new lower level having digested the bail-in in Cyprus. Looking ahead, the single currency has some tough issues to overcome. The Cyprus banks may have opened but Italy's president has yet to form government as all efforts so far for a coalition have failed. Italy is one of the heavyweights when it comes to government debt, as well as Spain. These two countries will pose a serious threat to the common currency should the political deadlock has spillover effects on the economy.

The Australian dollar (AUD) is picking up gains against the US dollar (USD). The Aussie moving above 1.0420 but could move into lower lows if it does not overcome its downward trend line.

The Canadian dollar (CAD) is moving sideways against the US dollar (USD) at around 1.0160. Should no news come into play; check buying a butterfly option on the pair and gain if the price stays the same.

Weekly option volatilities for the EURUSD picked remained around 10.00 as fear in the markets subsides and option premiums are kept constant.