Federal Open Market Committee

The term "monetary policy" refers to the actions undertaken by a central bank, such as the Federal Reserve, to influence the availability and cost of money and credit to help promote national economic goals. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 gave the Federal Reserve responsibility for setting monetary policy.

The Federal Reserve controls the three tools of monetary policy--open market operations, the discount rate, and reserve requirements. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is responsible for the discount rate and reserve requirements, and the Federal Open Market Committee is responsible for open market operations. Using the three tools, the Federal Reserve influences the demand for, and supply of, balances that depository institutions hold at Federal Reserve Banks and in this way alters the federal funds rate. The federal funds rate is the interest rate at which depository institutions lend balances at the Federal Reserve to other depository institutions overnight.

Changes in the federal funds rate trigger a chain of events that affect other short-term interest rates, foreign exchange rates, long-term interest rates, the amount of money and credit, and, ultimately, a range of economic variables, including employment, output, and prices of goods and services.



[Why Sigma]

1. Lowest spreads in the forex market, No other broker offers such competitive spreads .
2. Sigma is the only broker that allows you to customize your trading account as you wish.
3. Maintaining the security of your money is a major objective at Sigma.
4. Our devotion to our clients has made our firm a respected industry leader, that we have a strong commitment to maintain a long term relationship with our clients.
5. Low margin requirement.
6. Full Hedging capabilities.
7. Sigma is a registered financial institution, and registered with the European registration authorities. The regulations set out into notice by these agencies are created to help ensure the safety of our clients’ deposits.
8. We maintain enough liquid capital to meet the needs of the amount required to cover all client deposits, potential shift back and forth in the firm’s currency positions and outstanding expenses.
9. We put forward our financial information to regulatory bodies on a weekly and monthly basis.
10. In addition to all the above, Sigma holds all deposits with only highly reputable financial institutions. We are appreciate the trust of our clients place in us.

Fed policy makers keep key rate steady

Federal Reserve Board policy makers kept their benchmark lending rate unchanged at 2 percent on Tuesday, highlighting the conflicting pressures of an epic financial crisis and nagging inflation.
Although the decision initially disappointed investors, analysts said it reflected the Fed's determination to separate basic monetary policy from the specific credit and cash problems on Wall Street.

Even as the Fed announced its decision to stand pat, officials were rushing to complete a huge loan package for American International Group, the troubled giant insurance company.
Some economists said the decision on rates also reflected the unhappy truth that a cut in the overnight federal funds rate might have merely highlighted the Fed's limited ability to solve a problem that entails the entire U.s. housing and mortgage markets.
By holding steady on interest rates, the Fed is reflecting the uncomfortable fact that interest rates have little to do with the credit crisis stemming from staggering losses on poorly underwritten mortgages and mortgage-backed securities.
The central bank's Federal Open Market Committee "has decided to stand pat despite the market turmoil," said Sung Won Sohn, an economist at California State University, Channel Islands, who studies financial markets.

"Lower interest rates at this time would not solve any problems in the financial markets," he said. "The market is not short of liquidity; it is short of confidence."
Even though consumer prices actually declined slightly in August, largely because of a drop in oil prices, the Fed noted that inflation had been high and that the outlook for prices "remains highly uncertain."
"The downside risks to growth and the upside risks to inflation are both of significant concern," said the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets interest rates.
Policy makers said they would "monitor economic and financial developments carefully," adding that they would "act as needed to promote sustainable economic growth and price stability."
Below the surface, the Fed continued to flood the markets with extra cash through its open-market operations in New York. On Tuesday morning, the Fed injected an additional $50 billion into the markets simply to keep the federal funds rate at its target level of 2 percent. The effective funds rate had climbed as high as 4 percent when markets opened.
The Fed indicated that it was watching closely to see if the broader economy would further stumble because of Wall Street's illness, which could happen if businesses and home buyers were unable to obtain credit.
"The financial markets aren't frozen because the federal funds rate is too high," said Michael Darda, chief economist at MKM Partners, an investment firm in Greenwich, Connecticut "The markets are frozen because there is a crisis of confidence. It's not a matter of whether the short rate is 2 percent or 1.5 percent."
By any measure, the economy has already slowed sharply. The United States has lost an average of 75,000 jobs a month since January, for a total loss of 605,000 jobs through August. The unemployment rate hit 6.1 percent last month, up from 4.9 percent in January.
Some sectors of the economy have been surprisingly strong. Exports have received a boost from the dollar's sharp drop against other major currencies, which makes American products cheaper in foreign markets, and from healthy growth in other parts of the world. But most forecasters predict that the export boom will probably fade as slower growth in the United States spills over to foreign markets.
The technology sector, which had been strong despite the economy's other problems, on Tuesday showed some signs of weakening. Dell warned that worsening conditions across the globe might hurt its third quarter — a message that set off a 10 percent drop in the price of Dell shares.


[Sigma Services]

As a professional online trading service Sigma strives to give an eminent beyond comparison of professional and individualized trading services, Sigma also provides several facilities for all kinds of traders.
Sigma helps private and institutional clients achieve their trading goals by offering an inclusive forex trading package, along with the state-of-art trading platform, real-time news and wireless access. We relegate to meeting and exceeding our customers' expectations with the utmost professionalism and integrity.

Sigma provides appropriate services satisfying the needs of all business partners’ specified requirements. A client's profit is our success and a client's loss is a significant call of action for us, we consider every client as a special case and a partner.
Sigma's Customer Support is our business core, as we provide 24/7 customer support. We keep in touch with all our clients to make sure that we are on the right pass.

Open Live Account
Open Demo Account

COMPONENT CHANGES MADE TO DOW JONES U.S. SELECT DIVIDEND INDEX

NEW YORK (Feb. 24, 2009) — Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, today announced component changes in the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (United States, Banks, JPM) will be deleted from the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index and replaced by McGraw-Hill Cos. (United States, Media, MHP).
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is being removed due to a decrease in its dividend payment. The company's new dividend yield does not meet index eligibility requirements.
The changes in the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index will be effective as of the open of trading on Friday, February 27, 2009.

The Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index tracks the top 100 highest dividend-paying U.S. companies derived from the Dow Jones U.S. Index, which covers approximately 95% of U.S. market capitalization


[Sigma Forex Practice Accounts]

Learn And Develop your trading skills with Sigma platform!

A Free practice account is a great way to experience the Forex market without risking any money.

For Novice Traders
For those who did not trade in the forex market before can get accustomed to following a market, and open themselves to a whole new way to invest, and it also gives them the chance to understand how the trading platform works.

For Regular Traders
For those who are familliar with trading in forex market, a practice account can help them to get use to the particular characteristics of the Forex market or our trading platform.

For Experienced and Professional Traders
A practice account can even help experienced and professional traders as they can test and practice their trading strategies without risking capital.
Generally the Demo Account has the same capabilities of the real account, the only difference between them is that the real account is with real money and the practice account is with virtual money.

Open Now A Free $ 500'000 Account With Sigma Forex and discover a whole new way to invest.
Sigma Account allow you to open Micro, Mini and Standard lot through only one account and trade in Forex Market
In order to register for a practice account, please Download Sigma Forex Platform and open new account as illustrated below and you will have unlimited access to our Platform for the next 30-days.

If you have any problem regarding Sigma Practice Account you can see User Guides or click on the Live Chat button on the right menu and our customer support staff will help you through the process.

Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes

Launched in 1999, the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes are the first global indexes tracking the financial performance of the leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide. Based on the cooperation of Dow Jones Indexes, STOXX Limited and SAM they provide asset managers with reliable and objective benchmarks to manage sustainability portfolios.

Currently 70 DJSI licenses are held by asset managers in 16 countries to manage a variety of financial products including active and passive funds, certificates and segregated accounts. In total, these licensees presently manage close to 6 billion USD based on the DJSI.

[SigmaForex Partnership Services]

Overall View:

Sigma helps a various groups of partners around the world to enlarge their business and expand the full
potential of the Forex market.
Sigma’s services include:

Introducing Brokers: Join our IB network and receive compensation for directing new clients to Sigma.
Money Managers: Full service trading capabilities, plus dedicated account management, client fund
administration and reporting.
White Labels: White Label Program helps fitted firms set up an online presence in the Forex industry
quickly and cost effectively.

A dedicated Partner Services team supports Sigma partners with a full range of account management services.
- Daily P&L, credits, commission allocation, etc.
- Account funding, transfers, allocations, etc.
- Customer on-boarding.

Introducing Broker.
Money Manager.
White Label.

Wall Street points to moderately higher open ahead of economic data, Bernanke testimony

Wall Street signaled a moderate rebound Tuesday as investors awaited economic readings and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony on monetary policy.
The data on the economy follow another sharp drop in the market Monday that left the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index near 12-year lows.
Wall Street is awaiting a preliminary report on consumer sentiment for February that is expected to show Americans are growing more pessimistic amid rising layoffs, falling home prices and hard-hit retirement accounts.

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence index is expected to come in at 35.5 for February, down from 37.7 in January, according to economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
Investors are also looking for earnings reports from retailers Macy's Inc., Target Corp. and Office Depot Inc. Consumers worried about the economy have stayed away from stores in recent months, hurting retail earnings.
Beyond the economic and corporate readings, investors will be eager for any insight Bernanke can provide on his expectations for the economy and for the administration's plans to assist banks struggling with bad debt.
His testimony comes a day after the government moved closer to dramatically expanding its ownership stakes in the nation's banks, including Citigroup Inc. The Treasury Department, the Fed and other banking regulators said Monday they could convert the government's stock in the banks from preferred shares to common shares.
Wall Street is worried about nationalization of banks but is also afraid of the prospects for the banks if left to make do on their own.

"Fear is winning. That's what is dominating everybody's perspective," said Rich Hughes, co-president of Portfolio Management Consultants in Los Angeles.
He said any rallies are likely to be based on hope or on rebounds from selloffs. He contends Wall Street still hasn't seen the wrenching decline that is often needed to scare investors from the market and set the ground for a lasting recovery.
"The underlying fundamentals just aren't there to support anything that's sustainable right now," he said. "We haven't seen the capitulation that you'd want to see before you'd get thoroughly enthused."
Stock futures rose early Tuesday following the sharp drop in stocks Monday. Some bargain-hunting often follows steep drops in the market.
Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 64, or 0.90 percent, to 7,180. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 6.30, or 0.85 percent, to 751.30, while Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 3.50, or 0.31 percent, to 1,139.25.
On Monday, all the major indexes tumbled more than 3 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 251 points to its lowest close since May 7, 1997, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index logged its lowest finish since April 11, 1997.
The market's slide has been tough on long-term savers. An investor who in 1997 had $50,000 in a 401(k) retirement plan that tracks the S&P 500 would have lost money. The fund would now be worth $46,256. Still, stocks tend to perform better after steep pullbacks and their long-term returns often outpace other investments.
Bond prices were mixed early Tuesday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, slipped to 2.78 percent from 2.76 percent late Monday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, rose to 0.30 percent from 0.29 percent Monday.
The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.

Light, sweet crude rose 3 cents to $38.47 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Stocks fell in afternoon trading in Europe after Monday's drop on Wall Street. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.99 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 1.26 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 0.50 percent. Earlier, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 1.5 percent.
Tuesday's session comes ahead of a speech by President Barack Obama before the House of Representatives. He is expected to make the case that more has to be done to revive the economy. The speech is scheduled for 9 p.m. (0200 GMT Wednesday).


[Sigma Contract Specification]

Sigma Forex provide the clients with the lowest spreads in Forex Market for the most traded pairs and Forex spots.

Trading Hours
Sigma Dealing Room operate 24/5 from Sunday 23:00 CET until Friday 23.00 CET.
You Can contact us directly: + 41 435 004 145

Margin Requirements
The margin requirements must be respected by Friday at 23:00 GMT and before holidays.
One of our dealers will contact you if you are below your margin requirements at that time. Your margin requirements will depend on the client's account equity. However, if you approach the level where the loss of your open positions approaches the balance of your account, you will be stopped out and your positions will be closed. Stop positions will be executed when there is only around 50% equity of the required margin left in your account.

Streamline Dealing
Clients will not suffer Price Re-Quote that you can buy and sell directly on real-time prices without a request for quote (RFQ).
Clients taking advantage of wrong price quotes in the Market Watch will be requoted.
Sigma Forex effort is taken to ensure correct pricing at all times. However, there are rare circumstances when wrong prices are given.

Stop Order Execution
Volatile market conditions can result in prices gapping, which may prevent the execution of stop orders (sell stop, buy stop, stop loss) at the price you initially requested. However, our dealers strive to execute all stop orders at the price, or failing that, at the best attainable rate the market allows.

Lot Types
Sigma Forex has generated an ultimate account type that allow you to trade Standard, Mini and Micro lot in the same account which is Sigma Account to make it more simple and easy for traders.

Multi Currency Denomination

Sigma offers the ability to set-up accounts denominated in the following currencies:

• United States dollar (USD)
• Euro (EUR)
• Great Britain pound (GBP)
• Australian dollar (AUD)
• Swiss Frank (CHF)

There is no minimum deposit for opening an account, in order to review the spreads, pip value & margin requirement choose the required pair, leverage & the lot type.

If you have any problem regarding Sigma Contract Specification click on the Live Chat button on the right hand side and our customer support staff will help you through the process.

U.S. gasoline prices edge up to $1.94/gallon: survey

Average U.S. retail gasoline prices rose in the past two weeks as early signs emerged that demand was finally rebounding after motorists' lengthy aversion to high pump prices, according to the latest nationwide Lundberg survey on Sunday.
The average national price for self-serve regular unleaded gasoline was $1.9443 a gallon on February 20, up 2.55 cents per gallon in the past two weeks, according to the survey of gas stations.

The average price has risen about 28.21 cents from a recent bottom on December 19, but is still $2.17 below the all-time high of $4.1124 a gallon set last July 11. The current gasoline price is also down $1.16 from the same period last year.
Demand fell sharply after the summer, when high prices drove consumers from the pumps. But a sharp price drop from July to December is beginning to bring motorists back, survey editor Trilby Lundberg said in an interview.

"Demand seems on a preliminary basis to have actually grown slightly in the past month," she said. "It represents an improvement for the country's retailers and suppliers of gasoline ... and motorists are no longer cutting back on their use of gasoline."
Lundberg noted that crude oil prices had stabilized in the last month, relative to the volatility seen late last year, allowing gasoline prices to better reflect demand.
"Little change is the most likely scenario" in the next few weeks, she said.
At $2.39 a gallon, Anchorage, Alaska had the nation's highest average price for self-serve regular unleaded gasoline, while the lowest price was $1.60 a gallon in Cheyenne, Wyoming, the survey said.



[Why Sigma]

1. Lowest spreads in the forex market, No other broker offers such competitive spreads .
2. Sigma is the only broker that allows you to customize your trading account as you wish.
3. Maintaining the security of your money is a major objective at Sigma.
4. Our devotion to our clients has made our firm a respected industry leader, that we have a strong commitment to maintain a long term relationship with our clients.
5. Low margin requirement.
6. Full Hedging capabilities.
7. Sigma is a registered financial institution, and registered with the European registration authorities. The regulations set out into notice by these agencies are created to help ensure the safety of our clients’ deposits.
8. We maintain enough liquid capital to meet the needs of the amount required to cover all client deposits, potential shift back and forth in the firm’s currency positions and outstanding expenses.
9. We put forward our financial information to regulatory bodies on a weekly and monthly basis.
10. In addition to all the above, Sigma holds all deposits with only highly reputable financial institutions. We are appreciate the trust of our clients place in us.

Commentary: Stimulus bill a sorry spectacle

What a joke. Your Congress has voted to spend almost $790 billion of your money on a stimulus package that not a single member of either chamber has read.
The 1,073-page document wasn't posted on the government's Web site until after 10 p.m. the day before the vote to pass it was taken. I don't care if you're Evelyn Wood, you can't read almost 1,100 pages of the lawyer talk that makes up all legislation in eight or 10 hours.
The criminal part of this boondoggle is divided into two parts. The first is the Democrats promised to post the bill a full 48 hours before the vote was taken to allow members of the public to see what they were getting for their money. Both parties voted unanimously to do this ... and they lied.
It didn't happen. Why am I not surprised? Congress lying to the American people has become part of their job description. They can't be trusted on anything anymore.
I'm sure part of the reason there was no time for the public to read the bill was the 11th-hour internecine warfare between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
When Reid first announced the compromise had been reached, Nancy Pelosi was nowhere to be seen. And it would take an act of God for this egotistical, arrogant woman to miss a photo op where she could take credit for anything. But she wasn't there.

She summoned Reid to her office, where unnamed sources said she blew her top over some provision for schools that she wasn't happy with. Pelosi's snit delayed everything.
It's really too bad President Obama couldn't figure out a way to jettison these two who are poster children for everything that is wrong in Washington. The Associated Press called the birth of the stimulus bill "sausage making" in the best tradition of Washington politics as usual.
The second part of the crime is the contents of the bill itself. Far from being only about jobs, infrastructure and tax cuts as promised, the stimulus bill stimulates a bunch of other stuff as well. Eight billion dollars for high-speed rail lines, including a proposed line between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. This little bit of second story work wasn't even in the House version of the bill. iReport.com: So many things to do, what would you fix first?
It started in the Senate as a $2 billion project, and came out of the conference committee costing a whopping $8 billion. Gee, now who would that benefit? Oh yeah, the Senate majority leader is from Nevada.
Filipino veterans, most of whom don't live in the U.S., will get $200 million in compensation for World War II injuries. And: $2 billion in grants and loans for battery companies, $100 million for small shipyards and a rollback of the alternative minimum tax at a cost of some $70 billion.
The AMT provision is much-needed legislation, but it doesn't belong in the stimulus bill. It forced other things out so Congress could keep to its self-imposed $800 billion cap.

And when it comes to the tax cuts contained in the stimulus bill, experts have determined they will amount to about $13 per week after taxes for the average American. I'm not sure how much stimulation $13 a week buys. It depends on the neighborhood.
The biggest problem of all is the stimulus bill may not be nearly enough. And if the president has to come back asking for more, the next time might not be so easy.
So far, we have an anemic stimulus bill and some sort of vague proposal from the secretary of the Treasury to deal with the banking crisis -- a proposal that landed with a thud last week -- as the two first steps toward solving a financial crisis that is threatening to take down the country.
Obama better step up his game, or it's going to be a short four years in office.


[Sigma Services]

As a professional online trading service Sigma strives to give an eminent beyond comparison of professional and individualized trading services, Sigma also provides several facilities for all kinds of traders.
Sigma helps private and institutional clients achieve their trading goals by offering an inclusive forex trading package, along with the state-of-art trading platform, real-time news and wireless access. We relegate to meeting and exceeding our customers' expectations with the utmost professionalism and integrity.

Sigma provides appropriate services satisfying the needs of all business partners’ specified requirements. A client's profit is our success and a client's loss is a significant call of action for us, we consider every client as a special case and a partner.
Sigma's Customer Support is our business core, as we provide 24/7 customer support. We keep in touch with all our clients to make sure that we are on the right pass.

Open Live Account
Open Demo Account

Forced sales

BlueScope Profit Rises Threefold on Higher Sales (Update2)

BlueScope Steel Ltd., Australia’s largest steelmaker, said first-half profit increased more than threefold because of higher sales and after taking charges in the period a year earlier.
Net income was A$407 million ($263 million), or 52.6 cents a share, for the six months ended Dec. 31, compared with A$116 million, or 15.6 cents, a year ago, the Melbourne-based company said today in a statement.
Underlying profit in the first quarter rose 40 percent because of higher prices and sales as well as acquisitions. The global financial crisis forced steelmakers to cut output in the second quarter as demand softened. BlueScope may have a loss this half, it said today.
“Coming into the second quarter, export sales from Australia slowed materially due to the worsening economic and financial conditions in the developed world,” Managing Director Paul O’Malley said in the statement. “Should these market conditions continue we expect to see a negative net profit after tax contribution in the second half.”
The company’s shares declined 6.4 percent to A$2.92 at 10:03 a.m. Sydney time on the Australian stock exchange.
BlueScope cut its interim dividend by 77 percent to 5 cents a share because of the expected loss, it said.


[Sigma Forex Practice Accounts]

Learn And Develop your trading skills with Sigma platform!

A Free practice account is a great way to experience the Forex market without risking any money.

For Novice Traders
For those who did not trade in the forex market before can get accustomed to following a market, and open themselves to a whole new way to invest, and it also gives them the chance to understand how the trading platform works.

For Regular Traders
For those who are familliar with trading in forex market, a practice account can help them to get use to the particular characteristics of the Forex market or our trading platform.

For Experienced and Professional Traders
A practice account can even help experienced and professional traders as they can test and practice their trading strategies without risking capital.
Generally the Demo Account has the same capabilities of the real account, the only difference between them is that the real account is with real money and the practice account is with virtual money.

Open Now A Free $ 500'000 Account With Sigma Forex and discover a whole new way to invest.
Sigma Account allow you to open Micro, Mini and Standard lot through only one account and trade in Forex Market
In order to register for a practice account, please Download Sigma Forex Platform and open new account as illustrated below and you will have unlimited access to our Platform for the next 30-days.

If you have any problem regarding Sigma Practice Account you can see User Guides or click on the Live Chat button on the right menu and our customer support staff will help you through the process.

US stocks slump to six-year low after grim jobless data

US stocks closed at six-year lows Thursday after data showed five million people were collecting unemployment benefits, a record high number that underlined the growing depths of the recession. Skip related content
The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 89.68 points (1.19 percent) to end at 7,465.95, its lowest closing level since October 9, 2002.
The tech-dominated Nasdaq dropped 25.15 points (1.71 percent) to 1,442.82 and the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index shed 9.48 points (1.20 percent) to 778.94.
Markets fell on continued economic concerns, with financial stocks leading the decline, as investors remained jittery about the sustainability of asset valuations on their books, analysts at Charles Schwab & Co said.
"Wall Street is having trouble shaking off the gloom," said Wachovia Securities chief market strategist Al Goldman.
Shares were unable to maintain early gains as sellers entered the action and pushed the Dow index below its November lows posted Tuesday.

The market was stung by a series of data released Thursday underscoring deepening US recession.
The gloomiest report showed continuing claims for unemployment benefits rising by 170,000 to 4.987 million for the week ending February 7, another all-time high, according to the Labor Department.
It also said that although initial claims for government unemployment benefits were unchanged at 627,000 for the week ending February 14, the much watched four-week moving average had increased in each of the last four weeks.
"Continuing claims are at a record high. They underscore the difficulty in finding a new job at this juncture and make it apparent for many people why they should be saving more money if possible," said Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.com.
"The increased propensity to save bodes well for consumer balance sheets, but it will be a drain on GDP since increased savings means less spending by the consumer," he said.
Bank stocks faced the biggest rout. Citigroup fell by 2.51 percent to 13.75 dollars, Bank of America by 14 percent to 3.93 dollars, JPMorgan Chase by 4.23 percent to 20.60 dollars and Wells Fargo by 7.97 percent to 12.01 dollars.
General Electric, which reported last month a 44 percent lower fourth-quarter profit, dropped 4.64 percent to 10.06 dollars.
As oil prices recovered Thursday, energy stocks gained. ExxonMobil added 0.31 percent to 72.16 dollars and Chevron rose 0.85 percent to 66.68 dollars.
Sprint Nextel jumped 19.93 percent to 3.25 dollars after its quarterly loss emerged lower than anticipated while drugstore chain CVS Caremark was also up 6.37 percent to 28.71 dollars on better earnings.
Bonds were down. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond rose to 2.857 percent from 2.728 percent on Wednesday while that on the 30-year bond rose to 3.688 percent from 3.525 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

[SigmaForex Partnership Services]

Overall View:

Sigma helps a various groups of partners around the world to enlarge their business and expand the full
potential of the Forex market.
Sigma’s services include:

Introducing Brokers: Join our IB network and receive compensation for directing new clients to Sigma.
Money Managers: Full service trading capabilities, plus dedicated account management, client fund
administration and reporting.
White Labels: White Label Program helps fitted firms set up an online presence in the Forex industry
quickly and cost effectively.

A dedicated Partner Services team supports Sigma partners with a full range of account management services.
- Daily P&L, credits, commission allocation, etc.
- Account funding, transfers, allocations, etc.
- Customer on-boarding.

Introducing Broker.
Money Manager.
White Label.

Government not part of Doğan tax issue, says Erdoğan

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday said news reports suggesting that a hefty fine imposed on Doğan Yayın Media last week for alleged tax evasion was triggered by a government initiative were untrue, saying he had not been involved in the Finance Ministry's audit decisions at any point and adding that he saw the allegations as an attempt of the Doğan Group to defend itself.
Last week Doğan Yayın Holding, a conglomerate of publishing companies under the umbrella of Doğan Holding, was fined TL 826.2 for alleged irregularities in its tax returns by the Halkalı Tax Office. Doğan Yayın officials announced that they would challenge the allegations in court.
Some newspapers, particularly those affiliated with the Doğan Media Group, published headline news pieces alleging that the fine was levied against Doğan through the efforts of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) administration in an attempt to curtail freedom of the press and free speech.
Speaking to journalists on Saturday while on a plane to Diyarbakır to take part in his party's municipal elections campaign, the prime minister said: "The government cannot tell the Finance Ministry to open an investigation or review certain files. The Finance Ministry conducts such audits periodically with its tax inspectors and controllers. Irregularities were detected when the Doğan group underwent such an inspection. This has happened before. They asked to negotiate and paid a fine at the end of that process. This is a standard Finance Ministry procedure and affects all media groups [equally]. Similarly, there are standard procedures of the Capital Markets Board [SPK]. This is an independent institution. Am I directing it, too?"

A response from tax inspectors
The Ankara-based Tax Inspectors Association (VDD) on Saturday warned that news reports suggesting that the fine for alleged tax evasion was ordered by the government would be a violation of principles of impartiality in the judicial process.
In response to the allegations, the VDD on Saturday released a statement, although the text avoided any direct reference to Doğan group newspapers. The VDD, in a statement referring to reports suggesting that the prime minister was behind the fine imposed on Doğan, said, "These reports, written by reporters after insufficient research and analysis, have deeply hurt our colleagues."
The VDD statement said alleging the prime minister's involvement in the Doğan affair amounted to execution without trial of the tax auditors who inspected the Doğan accounts. The text noted legislation in place and very tight inspections on the part of inspectors, adding that inspectors engaged in unethical conduct are never tolerated in the profession.
"Accusatory news pieces that belittle tax inspectors' duty and tax inspectors can also be described as 'execution without trial.' No one can be declared guilty without a confirmed court ruling. These baseless smears are hurtful and untrue and are a violation of the principle of presumption of innocence. They constitute the crimes of attempting to influence the independent judiciary, attempting to influence persons carrying out judicial duties and falsely accusing and smearing," the statement said.
"…We expect an end to be put to the baseless and false publications associating tax inspectors with [attempts to prevent] press freedom and criticism, and for the public to be correctly informed. Our association will pursue all developments related to publications that are unjust and incorrectly inform the public and take any actions necessary [to stop this]," the statement added.


[Sigma Contract Specification]

Sigma Forex provide the clients with the lowest spreads in Forex Market for the most traded pairs and Forex spots.

Trading Hours
Sigma Dealing Room operate 24/5 from Sunday 23:00 CET until Friday 23.00 CET.
You Can contact us directly: + 41 435 004 145

Margin Requirements
The margin requirements must be respected by Friday at 23:00 GMT and before holidays.
One of our dealers will contact you if you are below your margin requirements at that time. Your margin requirements will depend on the client's account equity. However, if you approach the level where the loss of your open positions approaches the balance of your account, you will be stopped out and your positions will be closed. Stop positions will be executed when there is only around 50% equity of the required margin left in your account.

Streamline Dealing
Clients will not suffer Price Re-Quote that you can buy and sell directly on real-time prices without a request for quote (RFQ).
Clients taking advantage of wrong price quotes in the Market Watch will be requoted.
Sigma Forex effort is taken to ensure correct pricing at all times. However, there are rare circumstances when wrong prices are given.

Stop Order Execution
Volatile market conditions can result in prices gapping, which may prevent the execution of stop orders (sell stop, buy stop, stop loss) at the price you initially requested. However, our dealers strive to execute all stop orders at the price, or failing that, at the best attainable rate the market allows.

Lot Types
Sigma Forex has generated an ultimate account type that allow you to trade Standard, Mini and Micro lot in the same account which is Sigma Account to make it more simple and easy for traders.

Multi Currency Denomination

Sigma offers the ability to set-up accounts denominated in the following currencies:

• United States dollar (USD)
• Euro (EUR)
• Great Britain pound (GBP)
• Australian dollar (AUD)
• Swiss Frank (CHF)

There is no minimum deposit for opening an account, in order to review the spreads, pip value & margin requirement choose the required pair, leverage & the lot type.

If you have any problem regarding Sigma Contract Specification click on the Live Chat button on the right hand side and our customer support staff will help you through the process.