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Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) today launched plans for a 550-mile natural gas pipeline that will traverse through three states, triggering a loud chorus of condemnation from environmentalists who had thought that he backed their cause.

Dominion Resources and three other energy firms will invest nearly $5 billion to construct the Atlantic Coast Pipeline that will cross through Highland, Nelson and Augusta counties in Virginia as it snakes eastwards. The pipeline will also pass through North Carolina and West Virginia.

Ironically, McAuliffe backs the project despite riding on the support of Tom Steyer, a megadonor who is fiercely opposed to the Keystone XL oil pipeline, to win last year’s elections.

Besides Dominion Resources, other partners that form the consortium include AGL Resources, EVP Distribution Operations and Virginia Natural Gas. The six-year project, which is yet to be approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, is expected to initially generate 8,800 new job opportunities.

Once the project is complete, about 217 jobs are needed for the maintenance of the pipeline, says Christine Chmura, the chief economist at Richmond, VA-based Chmura Economics & Analytics, which analyzed the economic impact of the project. She also projected the pipeline will earn Virginia $14.6 million in tax revenue, and that no state funds will be used in the project.

When asked how he will handle the opposing viewpoints, McAuliffe said that policy supersedes politics, adding that the project will reduce energy costs for state residents, create jobs and help close aging coal plants.

“We’re talking jobs, economic development and it’s good for the environment,” said McAuliffe, according to the Washington Post. “In addition, this will allow Dominion, who has coal plants that are 50, 60 years old, which they plan on shutting down — this a lot less emissions. So what we’re doing today is great for the environment.*.

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Global Bitcoin Summit to Be Held in November This Year at Hong Kong

By Forexminute - Deepak Tiwari | Bitcoin | Sep 3, 2014 12:34PM BST




In a press release the organizers of the Global Bitcoin Summit say that the event will be held in Hong Kong from November 28 to 29 this year. The 2014 Internet Finance Innovation CEO Summit (IFICS) is expected to provide comprehensive opportunities for Bitcoin stakeholders, investors, companies, regulators, etc. to learn and explore.

The announcement says that gathered in Hong Kong, the knowledgeable experts in Internet Finance and Digital Currency will again diagnose the situation and provide the attendees with the latest information about domestic and overseas regulations, trading platforms, digital currency trends, offshore financial services and innovative financial solutions.

Moreover, as Internet finance is growing rapidly with many new businesses and innovations, this is an attempt to explore the scope available for Bitcoin transactions. According to the organizers of the event advances in technologies, especially those in ICT, big data and cloud computing, will help unlock the value of Internet Finance to great extent.

The press release says that as digital currency is probably the most revolutionary part of this change, crafting a totally new currency system that complemented with existing financial systems, the events like this will help further expand the scope and operation as well as reach. Inviting the attendees to explore the event, the organizers hope it will be successful fora.

According to the organizing committee the call for papers for the upcoming summit is open from now until September 30. It further announces that the prospective speakers are encouraged to submit their ideas for lectures, roundtables, and panels for the event. Speakers will be given thirty minutes to put their views on various issues.

Comprehensive Range of Topics to Be covered

The organizing committee informs that lectures are issue-oriented and expected to provide concrete examples, and contain both practical and theoretical information to help attendees explore then nuances well. Also, the 30 minutes long lecture will include answering questions from the audience.

According to a representative from the event they generally prefer only one speaker but may accept two if the participant can demonstrate the second person is necessary. A range of topics like Internet Finance Innovation, Digital Currency Innovation, Digital Asset Management, Digital Currency Security, etc. have been included the list.

Some other topics like Mining Equipment R&D, Innovation and Regulation, Digital Currency Offshore Trade and Exchange, Digital Currency Payment, New Model for Crowdfunding and P2P, Mobile Payment, Big Data for Financial Services, and Internet Credit to have been put in the list that the organizers are asking for papers on from the interested parties.


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Buying Bitcoin in Indonesia Made Easy as Customers can Buy them at 10,000 Indomaret Stores

By Forexminute - Deepak Tiwari | Bitcoin | Sep 3, 2014 10:10PM BST




Indonesia has huge potential for Bitcoin and as the number of Bitcoin users is expanding in the country, some companies are looking to explore the market well; one of them is Bitcoin.co.id. This company is Indonesia’s rising Bitcoin website, has now entered into a partnership with Indomaret to help Indonesia’s over 238 million residents to fund their Bitcoin.co.id accounts.

The company says that with the new partnership with Indomaret, Indonesians will now have access to Bitcoin at more than 10,000 Indomaret convenience stores across the country. According to a representative from the firm customers in Indonesia can now get a chance to top up Indonesian Rupiah on their Bitcoin.co.id account and then trade for Bitcoin as well.

Headquartered in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, Indomaret came to existence in 1988 when the first official Indomaret store opened its doors for customers and since then it has not looked back. Currently, it has more than 10,000 stores in Indonesia and caters the requirements from its customers giving them competitive services.

The latest decision to help Bitcoin.co.id customers to get Bitcoin balance in their account is going to further help the customers and the company as well. Bitcoin.co.id has previously received international press coverage late in 2013 after an Indonesian publication, the JakartaGlobe, ran a story titled, Bitcoin Finds Itty-Bitty Market in Indonesia.

Indonesia Has Huge Prospects for Bitcoin

In his statement to media Bitcoin.co.id’s co-founder Oscar Darmawan said that he is very hopeful for Indonesian Bitcoiners as the number of investors and merchants who accept Bitcoin in the country is expanding like never before. Though the country still does not many companies that accept Bitcoin, there is no doubt about the fact that it is making inroads.

Another reason behind the slow growth of Bitcoin in the country is that taking the cognizance of the situation Indonesia’s central bank, Bank Indonesia, issued a statement about Bitcoin through their Department of Communication’s Executive Director: Difi Ahmad Johansyah. It warned the users about the digital currencies; this gave negative impact on users.

If Bitcoin becomes popular, it can help travelers from world around as well as tourism sector in the country is growing fast and currently nets Indonesia almost 10 billion USD annually. However, if there are many outlets wherein these travelers can use their Bitcoin, the quantum of the transactions may go up manifold.


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The dollar looks set to touch its highest level in nearly eight months versus the yen ahead of the scheduled release of a data that is forecasted to show U.S. employment numbers rose, boosting speculation the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates.

The U.S. currency rose 0.1 percent to trade at 104.87 yen at 10:55 a.m. in London after surging 105.31 yen on Wednesday, its strongest level since Jan. 10. The dollar remained slightly unchanged at $1.3148 per euro after advancing to $1.3110 on September 2, its highest level since Sept. 6, 2013. The euro held steady at 137.88 yen.

“The U.S. economy is looking better, and global confidence in U.S. assets both as a haven and an investment remains healthy,” Neil Jones, a London-based head of hedge-fund sales at Mizuho Bank Ltd., told Bloomberg News. “The market is looking for the ECB and BOJ to raise stimulus down the line, and the Fed to reduce it. The foreign-exchange market is acting accordingly.”

Economists forecast that a report due to be released today by ADP Research Institute will show that U.S. payrolls rose in August. A Bloomberg survey of economists also projects that growth in U.S. service industries grew the most since 2005 last month, before the Institute for Supply Management releases its report today.

Meanwhile, the Swedish krona rose after the country’s central bank retained its benchmark interest rates, expressing confidence that its 0.5 point reduction in July is sufficient to boost inflation. The Riksbank retained its repurchase rate at 0.25 percent in line with analysts’ estimates. The krona rose 0.2 percent to 9.1904 per euro and advanced 0.2 percent to 6.9904 per dollar.


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US crude stocks dropped less than expected in the past week as gasoline stocks fell amid a rise in distillate inventories, according to Energy Information Administration data.

In comparison to the 1.1 million barrels drop expected by analysts, the crude inventories dropped 905,000 barrels. There was a 385,000 barrel drop of crude stocks in the delivery hub at Cushing, Oklahoma.
According to Reuters, there was 114,000 barrels a day drop in refinery crude and a 0.2% drop of the refinery utilization rate to 93.3% capacity.

Gasoline stocks dropped 2.3 million barrels in comparison to the expectations by analysts. Distillate stockpiles such as heating oil and diesel, increased by 605,000 barrels. This is against the expectation of the 500,000 drop in barrels.

Last week, imports for US crude increased by 42,000 barrels a day. New York based Energy Management Institute senior partner, Dominick Chirichella said, “The report is a little bearish because of the build in crude inventories on the Gulf Coast, in PADD ₃ and with crude stocks off a little in Cushing, it points to the Gulf Coast becoming more relevant.”

In the PADD ₃ region, crude stocks at the US Gulf Coast increased to 189.7 million barrels last week by 659,000 barrels. Crude stocks dropped by 1.7 million barrels at the West Coast, PADD ₅, which was the main cause of the decline in the crude stocks.

John Kilduff, Again Capital LLC partner said, “The report is mildly supportive, due mostly to the large gasoline inventory drawdown.”

Investing.com reports that the data from the US service sector failed to prevent the losses. The services index for the Institute of Supply Management increased from July’s 58.7 to August’s 59.6, above the 57.5 market forecast.
In London’s ICE Futures Exchange, October delivery Brent oil futures dropped 0.54%, $102.22 per barrel. The spread between US crude and Brent contract was $7.66 per barrel.

The krona rose 0.2 percent to 9.1954 per euro and was slightly unchanged at 7.005 per dollar.


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The Canadian dollar fell versus most of its major counterparts after the employment numbers fell in August, boosting speculation the central bank may raise interest rates soon.

The loonie tumbled 0.1 percent to C$1.0885 per U.S. dollar as of 10:36 am Toronto time. One Canadian dollar is equivalent to 91.87 U.S. cents. The currency dropped after the number of Canadians in active workforce fell 11,000 last month, down from a gain of 41,700 in July. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had expected an increase of 10,000.

The Bank of Canada retained its main interest rate earlier this week and remained neutral over its next move, justifying that rising exports need to be boosted further in order to facilitate a broad-based economic growth.
“It probably confirms their neutral bias going forward,” Shaun Osborne, a chief currency strategist at Toronto-Dominion Bank, told Bloomberg News.

The nation’s target 10-year government bond rose, with yields declining 0.03 percentage point, or three basis points, to 2.09 percent. The 2.5 percent note that matures in June 2024 rose 30 cents to C$103.58.
Today’s employment data indicated that Canadian private employers shed 111,800 jobs, the most since April 1982. Statistics Canada reported that the number of workers holding part-time jobs plunged 8,700 in August, while full-time workers fell 2,300. 20,800 workers exited the labor force last month, reducing the labor participation rate to 66 percent, the weakest level since November 2001.

Another report published on Thursday showed that Canada recorded its biggest trade surplus in nearly six years in July, fuelled by surging demand for automobiles.



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Backdrop:
GBP/JPY has been choppy throughout 2014, but we can see a bullish bias to this madness. In fact,*there has been higher lows and a fresh high on the year at 175.36 in July. But after that, price have been mainly bearish. Price came down to test the 200-day simple moving average for the first time November 2012, during August.
Price bounced off the 200-day SMA and headed higher, signaling bullish continuation with a break above the 100-day and 50-day SMAs and more importantly above a falling trendline from July’s high.

GBP/JPY Daily Chart 9/6



The breakout however did not extend, and last week, price immediately fell back failing to break above 174. By the end of the week price tagged the 171.00 handle but closed just above the 200-day SMA around 171.35. *So here we have a market at the cusp of shifting from a neutral-bullish mode to at least a neutral-bearish mode, and perhaps a bearish mode for the medium-term.

The GBP/JPY is now at the cross road, wish some short-term bearish bias. I think if price returns back above 173.00, the bearish outlook should be shelved, and the market is back to neutral-bullish mode. Note that this would push price back above the 100- and 50-day SMAs.

Trade Idea:

So, if we are to take a bearish stance here, we might want to wait for a rally to the 172.50-173.00 area. Looking at the 4H chart, this would mean a pullback to a key resistance cluster. We should also monitor the 4H RSI – if it stalls at 60 while price also stalls in the 172.20-172.50 area, we can anticipate a bearish swing.

GBP/JPY 4H Chart 9/6



Conservative R:R assessment:

In a reward to risk assessment, let’s say the stop-loss is 173.30, while the entry is at 172.30. That is 100-pips of risk. The target would conservatively be the 170.50 area, near the August-low. That would yield a 180-pip reward. This trade idea thus has a 1.8:1 reward to risk profile.


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Xapo Says It Will Block New York Customers if NYDFS Regulations On

By Forexminute - Deepak Tiwari | Bitcoin | Sep 7, 2014 9:51AM BST




Calling the BitLicense over-regulation, Xapo,Bitcoin wallet provider that recently launched its debit card, says that it will have to block the New York customers if the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) regulations against Bitcoin will be on. It is to be noted that NYDFS unveiled some measures consisting strict regulations on Bitcoin a couple of months ago.
In a blog at the official website, Xapo says that over-regulation as with the proposed BitLicense is not going to gel well with the digital currency as according to it this is going to hinder progress and serve an anticompetitive function where only the well-capitalized survive. The company has been opposing the move since the beginning.

The blog, written by Wences Cesares, Xapo founder and CEO, says that even in a nascent industry such as Bitcoin, competition and innovation have already driven out shady operators while ushering in new and disruptive alternatives (from hosted cold storage vaults to the encryption protocols that allow consumers to store their coins on their own devices).
According to the blogger at Xapo regulating competitors out of the industry is not a good outcome for Bitcoin as at this stage a rising tide lifts all ships. Also, as the proposed BitLicense will have a potentially counterintuitive effect since the leaders in Bitcoin it would be extremely counterproductive.

Though Xapo is For Smart Regulations, The BitLicense is Harsh One

The company believes that with the BitLicense those with professional management teams dedicated to security and compliance will not be able to operate in New York. Also, though New Yorkers will continue to use Bitcoin, they will be forced to use providers that operate outside the current legitimized and professionalized cohort.

Thus, according to the blog the provision of services simply will not be up to the standards that we aim to provide, and New York consumers will suffer the consequences. In consequence to the legal complexities Xapo has decided to completely avoid New York customers if the state passes its proposed BitLicense plan.

Wences Cesares accuses the state government’s proposal of overreaching and says that though he doesn’t necessarily oppose smart regulation for the peer-to-peer decentralized digital currency industry, he believes the proposal as written not only threatens the Bitcoin economy and innovation but consumers as well.

He writes that New York’s proposed BitLicense in its current form is the wrong form of regulation and in fact poses a threat to New York and New York consumers and he believes that at this early stage in Bitcoin’s history, investing the time needed to arrive at the right regulation is time well spent.


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Brief Consolidation and Breakdown:

The GBP/USD ended last week with a low of 1.6280 and consolidated after a poor NFP reading of 142K. However, the loss of US-strength was minor and brief, with a high at 1.6340 after the NFP-reaction. As we begin a new trading week, the GBP/USD dipped below 1.6280 down to 1.6164 with a gap.

Filling the Gap:
Now, the 1H chart looks oversold as the RSI tagged 20, and a near-term rally to close the gap is possible. Then we should expect sellers in the 1.6280-1.63 area. At this point, a break above 1.6350 might be needed to open up any meaningful consolidation outlook.

GBP/USD 1H Chart 9/8


The 1H chart is very bearish:
1) The 200-, 100-, and 50-hour simple moving averages are in bearish alignment, sloping down, and area spreading apart with price below all of them. This shows a bearish trend in full-throttle.
2) The RSI has tagged below 30 and even below 20, and also stayed below 60, even 50. This shows not only persistent but strong bearish momentum.

Bearish Continuation vs. Consolidation:
The above are*reasons to anticipate sellers on any intra-session rally. As noted before a break back above 1.6350 will be needed to shift the bearish outlook to a possibly sideways one, though it would still bear some downside bias at first, until we get a clear price bottom.

Support for the Current Decline:
Now, take a look at the weekly chart. Last week was one of the strongest bearish weeks in a while, and is extending a sharp downtrend toward at least the 1.60 area. Note that the 200-week SMA resides around 1.60.*Note that 50% retracement of the 2013-2014 rally is around 1.60. We should probably not expect any significant buying until this psychologically sticky price.

GBP/USD Weekly Chart


A more aggressive bearish outlook for 2014 will be the 1.5854 support pivot from Nov. 2013, down tot he 1.5722, 61.8% retracement level. We should probably expect price to consolidate around 1.60 after the current bearish swing. since July.

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The EUR/CHF has been persistently bearish throughout August. We can see that after a double top below*1.2177, price has been making lower highs and lower lows. The 4H RSI has tagged belwo 30, and has since held below 60, reflecting persistent bearish momentum. The 200-, 100-, and 50-period SMAs have been sloping down, in bearish alignment, and spreading apart until very recently. Price was also below all these SMAs until very recently. Thus the bearish outlook is very strong, but there are some early signs that the mode might be shifting.

EUR/CHF 4H Chart 9/8


First of all, price is starting to move above the 50-period SMA, showing that the pace of the bearish trend is stalling. We also see price breaking a falling trendline, but in a sideways manner. Again, we are seeing a shift from bearish to neutral, but there is still bearish bias because the RSI is below 60.

Now, the range of this price bottom attempt is about 45 pips. So, a break below 1.2044 with a 45-pip projection, targets the 1.20 handle. This is a very key level which we should expect support at because the Swiss National Bank had vowed to keep EUR/CHF above 1.20.

Because of this possible dynamic around 1.20, we might want to put away that bearish bias because price is already near this low, and trading into 1.20 might not be a prudent idea. However, the bullish outlook might need to be limited in the short-term.

The immediate target for a break above 1.2090 would be the 1.2035 area (using the 45-pip target). But we should also anticipate resistance if price gets in to the 1.2115-1.2120 area, which contains a support/resistance pivot area, and the 200-period SMA.

The daily chart shows that there is resistance around 1.2130-1.2140 as well. This was a previous support area reinforced by a falling trendline that originates from the 2014-high at 1.2394.

EUR/CHF Daily Chart 9/8



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