US bond insurance

Wall Street's biggest investment banks face at least $10bn (£5.1bn) of fresh write-downs related to the possible collapse of some of the world's biggest bond insurers - a new problem that could be just the tip of another financial iceberg.

Merrill Lynch shed some light on the extent of the bond insurance crisis when it revealed another set of ballooning losses last Thursday. Alongside that $16.7bn mountain of virtually worthless sub-prime related paper was a $3.1bn charge connected to insurance taken out to protect some of the mortgage-backed securities on its books.
It set aside $1.9bn alone for contracts insured by ACA Capital Holdings, the most troubled of the bond insurers.
Banks such as Merrill Lynch and UBS, among others, transferred billions of dollars of credit risk to so-called 'monoline' insurers in case the dodgy sub-prime backed bonds on their books ever defaulted. It seems the banks were right to be cautious, as the bonds have since proved to be next to worthless. But the sheer volume of defaults has ramped up the pressure on the monoline insurers to such a degree that many are unable to meet their obligations.
Oppenheimer analyst Meredith Whitney, using the Merrill Lynch case as a rough model, believes the biggest investment banks in the world face new write-downs amounting to about $10bn of their $12.7bn worth of bonds insured by ACA alone. At the top of the list is UBS, which was the biggest underwriter of the asset-backed securities called collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) when ACA was most active. UBS will have to write down $1.4bn of its ACA-backed hedges, Whitney estimates.

A whole host of bond insurers were last week downgraded by ratings agencies Moody's, Standard & Poor's and Fitch, which not only places them in a precarious position but creates another big headache for Wall Street.

[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.

Dexia plans

Dexia said it will cut back its core public banking business, pulling out of Australia, Mexico, India, Scandinavia and most of Eastern Europe. It will also significantly reduce its activities in the U.K. and in North America.
Instead it will refocus its government lending and retail business in Belgium, Luxembourg, Turkey and Slovakia.
The bank also unveiled an in-depth reorganization of trading activities to reduce its risk profile and said it will shed 900 jobs with the aim of saving €200 million a year from 2009.
In midmorning trading in Brussels, Dexia shares were down 3.8%.
Jean-Luc Dehaene, Chairman of the Board of Directors, said: "The steps announced today are difficult but necessary if our group is to adapt to the demanding conditions of a sustainable recovery."
The implementation of this transformation plan requires a contribution from shareholders, management and employees alike, with everyone assisting to place Dexia back on a firm footing."
The bank also said it will cancel dividends and bonuses for 2008 and director salaries would be cut in 2009.

Dexia was bailed out with a €6.4 billion cash injection from the governments of France, Belgium and Luxembourg early in October, followed by state guarantees from the same governments a week later after its share price plummeted.
It sold off its ailing U.S. bond insurer FSA in November but the deal excluded FSA's €16.5 billion toxic Financial Products portfolio containing securities heavily exposed to the U.S. subprime market.

[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.

Dexia

The Dexia Group was created in 1996 through the merger of Crédit Local de France and Crédit Communal de Belgique.

The Group subsequently acquired Financial Security Assurance (FSA) of the USA, a major player in the municipal bond insurance market.
It is now one of the largest financial institutions listed on the stock market in the Euro zone and is the world’s leading provider of financing for public services and infrastructure schemes.
Dexia Public Finance Bank, based in London, is the commercial banking UK subsidiary of Dexia Crédit Local and has established itself as a leading player in the UK public finance and project finance markets.
Given the focus on public infrastructure, the UK’s Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and Public Private Partnerships (PPP) form a substantial part of Dexia’s core business.



[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.

Iraqis Sunni

Who are Iraq’s Sunnis?

The divisions among Sunnis that surfaced in the run-up to the October 15 referendum highlight both the fractiousness of the Sunni leadership and the various ethnic, political, and geographic divisions within the Sunni community. Sunnis, who comprise around 20 percent of Iraq’s population, are far from a monolithic group. The majority of them are ethnic Arabs, but there are also Sunni Turkmen, Kurds, and other minorities thrown into the mix. They share different political goals as well: some secular, highly nationalistic ex-Baathists, who favor restoring a strong, centralized state. These include members of the insurgency and those sympathetic to the insurgents’ goals, if not their violent methods. Others are more religious, parochial, and motivated by tribal interests. Not all Sunni Arabs support the Sunni-led insurgency, but nearly all agree Iraq should remain a unified state.

Where are they located?

Most Sunni Arabs reside in central Iraq, including the so-called Sunni Triangle, an area that stretches northwest of Baghdad and encompasses insurgent strongholds like Tikrit (Saddam’s hometown), Ramadi, Samarra, and Fallujah. At least half of Iraq’s Sunni community live in cities, such as Baghdad or Mosul, and form the backbone of Iraq’s educated middle class, working as lawyers, doctors, and bureaucrats. It is not uncommon for these Sunnis to intermarry with ethnic Shiites. Urbanized Sunnis are also secular, in large part because Saddam’s Baath Party emphasized a socialist, non-religious Iraqi state. Many of these Sunnis say the constitution offers too much authority to sharia, or Islamic law, which is favored by Iraq’s highly influential Shiite clerics. Recent polls by Zogby International indicate that roughly three-quarters of Iraq’s Sunnis favor a secular state.

Sunnis who reside in the countryside are less educated but more diverse, motivated more by family, clan, or regional interests. “Tribal politics is the overwhelming interest,” says Judith Yaphe, senior fellow at the National Defense University. Sunnis living near the Syrian border are believed to be helping the Sunni insurgents and foreign jihadis holed up in the region. For instance, in Tal Afar, which is 70 percent Sunni Turkmen, the local Sunni population was suspected of aiding the Sunni Arab guerillas in the region prior to a recent sweep of the city by U.S. and Iraqi forces.


[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

US forces

Vice President Biden visits RAF Mildenhall

Vice President Joe Biden asks if anyone has questions or concerns he could answer concerning the new administration during a two-hour visit to RAF Mildenhall, England, Feb. 8, 2009. During his visit the vice president visited with Airmen and their families and discussed the weakened economy and what the Obama administration is doing to potentially strengthen it. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Christopher L. Ingersoll)
Air Forces Africa engages on Nigerian air safety, security
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany -- -- Statistically, traveling by air is often cited at the safest way to travel. While taking to the skies has some inherent risk, advances in technology, coupled with stringent maintenance requirements and rigorous training procedures for aircrew have contributed to a safe aerial environment in most parts of the world.

COMUSAFE participates in Job Shadow Day

Gen. Roger A. Brady, United States Air Forces in Europe commander, speaks to more than 40 children of Headquarters USAFE people during HQUSAFE Job Shadow Day. General Brady talked to the children about his job as the commander, the importance of what their parents do for the Air Force while living and working in Europe, and then answered questions on a variety of topics.

USAFE medics, firefighters train to teach

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany -- The 435th Medical Group kicked off a two-week Emergency Medical Technician Instructor Course for firefighters and medics around U.S. Air Forces in Europe Feb. 2 here.
The course put more than 20 firefighters and medics from eight different bases in the same training environment, making sure each learned the same curriculum.

[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.

Airports in Frankfurt | Frankfurt Intl

Frankfurt Airport (FRA):is located eight miles south west of the center of Frankfurt.

To / from the airport: Buses leave regularly for Frankfurt and other destinations from outside Terminals 1 and 2, tickets can be bought from the bus driver. Many hotels provide a free shuttle service to and from the airport. Rail connections are excellent; the airport has a station beneath Terminal 1, from which trains depart regularly to central Frankfurt, 24 hours a day. There is also a long-distance train station open between 5am and midnight, accessible from Terminal 1, from which Intercity and Euro city trains depart. Taxis are available outside both terminals, the journey to central Frankfurt takes 20-30 minutes.

Facilities: Frankfurt Airport is one of the best-equipped airports in the world; it even offers a casino. There are numerous restaurants, shops, bars and cafes in both terminals, and banks, bureau de change and ATMs are in both Arrivals and Departures. A business center offers Internet, fax and secretarial facilities. Other facilities include a hairdresser, chapel and children's play areas. Disabled facilities are good; travelers with special needs should ideally contact their airline in advance.

[SigmaForex Introducing Broker]

Expand your business and revenue potential while offering your referred clients the highest available level of service and support.
Sigma’s Introducing Broker Program allows individuals to receive remuneration for directing new clients to Sigma.

Refer new self-directed or managed account clients to Sigma and make easier the account opening and funding process. In return, Sigma provides all of the essential tools and resources you need to launch and manage a successful IB operation.
We are committed to delivering the highest levels of service and a quality product offering to help you grow your business.
Sigma provides an array of services and as an Introducing Broker, you and your clients will benefit from:

Sophisticated trading platform

Our trading platform feature quality execution capabilities as well as advanced and easy-to-use order entry and position management tools, all in a secure environment. A full suite of decision support tools, from charting to research, news and more, are also available to clients free of charge.
Furthermore, our software, service, and execution is second to none.
Account for all levels of experience

Your clients will be able to organize their trading account according to their needs and their experience level and risk appetite. Sigma is best suited and ideal for experienced traders and individual investors.
Unique Product, is the only firm to offer competitive spreads and zero commissions and zero swaps
Dedicated back-office support

Sigma supplies complete back office services.
Sigma’s Partner Services team is dedicated to providing Outstanding Compensation and full account management support to our IB clients. As part of our service, Sigma provides all IB partners online access to our proprietary reporting tool, allowing you to closely monitor referred account volume and revenue. Our customer support is 24 hours, customers may fund around the clock.

For more details contcat IB@SigmaForex.com

Technology Shares

Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The following is a list of companies whose shares may have unusual price changes in South Africa. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names and prices are from the last close.
South Africa’s FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index fell 15.53, or 0.1 percent, to 20,650.38 on Feb. 13 in Johannesburg, its fourth day of losses.

Anglo American Plc (AGL SJ): Subsidiary Kumba Iron Ore Ltd. (KIO SJ) reports annual results. Africa’s largest producer of the steelmaking ingredient will report net income of as much as 7.5 billion rand for the year ended Dec. 31. Anglo rose 50 cents, or 0.3 percent, to 185 rand. Kumba dropped 5.90 rand, or 3.4 percent, to 168 rand.
Faritec Holdings Ltd. (FRT SJ): The information technology company reported a loss of 21.5 million rand for the six months ended Dec. 31 when compared with the same period a year earlier, the company said in a statement to the Johannesburg stock exchange on Feb. 13. Faritec was unchanged at 12 cents.
Group Five Ltd. (GRF SJ): The construction and engineering group releases first-half earnings. Earnings per share will be as much as 40 percent higher than the comparative period last year, the company said on Jan. 21. Group Five lost 1 rand, or 3.3 percent, to 29.70 rand.

South African Coal Mining Holdings Ltd. (SAH SJ): The South African producer of the fuel said it made a loss excluding one- time items for the year ended Dec. 31 of between 4 cents and 6.5 cents a share. The stock was unchanged at 70 cents.
Tiger Brands Ltd. (TBS SJ): South Africa’s largest food company holds its annual general meeting. Tiger fell 2.75 rand, or 2.1 percent, to 128.75 rand.
The following stocks begin trading without the right to the latest dividends:
Capital Property Fund (CPL SJ); Cullinan Holdings Ltd. (CULP SJ); Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI SJ); Redefine Income Fund Ltd. (RDF SJ); Winhold Ltd. (WNH SJ).
Shares or American depositary receipts of the following South African companies closed as follows:

Anglo American (AAUK US) fell 2.4 percent to $9.39. AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU US) shed 1.9 percent to $29.64. BHP Billiton (BBL US) rose 1.1 percent to $37.18. DRDGold Ltd. (DROOY US) fell 1.6 percent to $8.81. Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI US) dropped 2.6 percent to $11.17. Harmony Gold Mining Co. (HMY US) declined 1.5 percent to $12.02. Impala Platinum Holdings Co. (IMPUY US) fell 3 percent to $13.10. Sappi Ltd. (SPP US) plunged 12 percent to $2.74. Sasol Ltd. (SSL US) dropped 2.5 percent to $27.30. Telkom South Africa Ltd. (TKG US) fell 2.7 percent to $46.44.

[SigmaForex Money Manager]

Elevate the quality of your trading, Money managers trading pooled or individual client funds benefit from Sigma’s trading and administrative tools and services.

With preferential rating access to Sigma’s research staff, sophisticated trading platform and reporting tools, Sigma’s money manager solution is one of the most competitive in the marketplace.
Sigma provides a dedicated team of account management specialists to provide ongoing back-office support, and help reduce your administrative responsibilities.
Highly developed trading platform

Our trading platform feature quality execution capabilities as well as advanced and easy-to-use order entry and position management tools, all in a secure friendly environment. A full suite of decision support tools, from charting to research, news and more, are also available to clients all for free.
Characteristic tools
Our proprietary tool offers money managers a comprehensive and efficient way to manage pooled customer funds and track portfolio performance. Accessible online, the system automatically journals percentages of your transactions from your Master account into your client's sub accounts at the close of each trade.

We also support the needs of money managers who wish to execute trades and place orders on a per account basis. Reporting capabilities are available directly within the application, as well as real-time margin and P&L.
Back-office support
Our Partner Services team is dedicated to providing full account management support to our money managers and your clients. Our customer support is 24 hours, customers may fund around the clock. Sigma’s Partner Services team is dedicated to providing Outstanding Compensation and full account management support.

For more details contcat MM@SigmaForex.com

South Korea Faces Deeper Recession Than in 1997-98, Nomura Says

South Korea faces a “deeper and longer” recession than during the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis as the global slump pummels exports and indebted consumers and companies cut spending, Nomura Holdings Inc. said.
“The biggest difference this time around is the country’s exports won’t provide a cushion for a drop in local demand,” Nomura’s Hong Kong-based economist Kwon Young Sun said.
Asia’s fourth-largest economy will shrink 6.8 percent on average for the four quarters from the final three months of 2008, when the current recession began, Kwon estimates. That’s more than an average 4.5 percent contraction for the same period from the fourth quarter of 1997, he said.
Unlike during the Asian collapse a decade ago, the major overseas markets of the U.S., Europe and China have all faltered and that has led to a plunge in demand for Korean-made cars, mobile phones and computer chips. Exports will decline 12.2 percent this year and increase 7.9 percent next year, compared with a 12.7 percent gain in 1998, Nomura forecast.

Overseas shipments accounted for 63.5 percent of GDP in 2008, more than double the 29.4 percent in 1997, Kwon said.
“Domestic demand will take a longer time to recover as consumers and businesses are much more indebted now,” Kwon said. “So the economy is destined to fall further and longer as both exports and local demand dive.”
The ratio of household debt to income swelled to a record 149 percent in 2007, the highest in the region, as a property boom increased lending, Kwon said. Debt also climbed as people who lost jobs in the wake of corporate restructuring after the Asian crisis took out loans to start small businesses, he said.

‘Bleak Outlook’
“The bleak job-market outlook and the slump in assets markets will cause the household sector to respond promptly to the economic cycle, increasing the amount of their disposable income saved,” Kwon said.
The number of South Koreans with jobs dropped by 103,000 last month from a year earlier, the biggest decline in five years as manufacturers and retailers fired workers. The benchmark Kospi stock index has fallen 30 percent in the past year.
Private consumption will contract 7.1 percent this year, before gaining 4.8 percent in 2010, Nomura forecasts. That compares with a 13.4 percent slump in 1998 and a 11.5 percent rebound in 1999.
“Small and medium-sized enterprises, or SMEs, are facing severe financing constraints, which should help cut business investment substantially given SMEs account for 50 percent of manufacturing production,” Kwon said. “We expect domestic demand to overshoot on the downside in 2009.”
Investment will fall 19.9 percent in 2009 and rise 11.9 percent next year, he predicted. In contrast, after the previous recession in 1998, business spending jumped 36.8 percent in 1999.
“Our biggest concern beyond the current economic cycle is that a deeper and longer recession than the Asian crisis could exacerbate income inequ

[SigmaForex White Label]

Forex White Label Program

As your partner, our goal is to support you through the planning and launch phases and beyond to ensure a mutually successful and long-term business relationship
Establish your brand in the Forex Brokerage industry.

Our Forex White Label program is for individuals and institutions that want to establish a brand name and a presence in the Forex industry. As a white label partner, you will be provided with a platform branded with your name and logo as well as content for your introducing broker website. Also Sigma white label partner program enables banks and brokers to satisfy their customers' demand for online trading tools. Our trading solutions enable you to harness and develop already existing customer trading relationships and extract greater returns from them whilst streamlining internal trading operations and rendering them as efficient as possible.

You will also enjoy our 24-hour market, full service of back office support, and other administrative and support functions.

Ideal candidates for the Forex white label program include:

• Financial services firms that want to establish a new Forex brokerage division. For example, banks, insurance companies, etc.
• Trading firms and/or online brokers that want to offer a greater range of products to their customers. you will be providing your clients with a great value-added service while increasing the profitability of your firm.
• Companies offering Forex tools and advisory services - This can be websites or newsletters that provide an analysis of the Forex or futures market, advisory businesses, etc. that want to expand their web presence by offering online Forex trading capabilities to their existing client base.
• Forex White Label Introducing Brokers will enjoy the most advanced Forex trading software in the market. The web-based white label trading platform provides real time, streaming currency prices and instantaneous one click execution, real time management of currency positions, in addition to complete back office support and reporting features. Along with other tools to help traders make trading decisions. The software is also compatible with most operating systems. This means that your customers can trade currencies from any computer, anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day.

If you want to discuss your potential Forex White Label Introducing Brokerage business with us via mail

Unilever Talks With Delhaize After Grocer Scraps 320 Products

Unilever, the world’s second-biggest consumer-goods company, is trying to persuade Delhaize Group to put products from Dove soap to Sunsilk shampoo back on its shelves after the supermarket owner balked at paying full price.
Delhaize said yesterday that it stopped buying 250 Unilever products to stock its 775 supermarkets in Belgium, which dominate the local market. The removals don’t apply to the Brussels-based company’s U.S. chains, which include Food Lion.

Unilever spokeswoman Aurelie Gerth said Delhaize, which had already removed 70 other Unilever goods before October, refused to buy all the brands the company offered and wouldn’t guarantee new products would get shelf space. Though talks continue, there’ll “probably not be a solution this week,” she said.
“We didn’t agree to their terms, so they refused to grant us discounts,” said Delhaize spokeswoman Liesbeth Rogiers. “That would really boost our purchasing prices and we can’t and won’t pass those on to our customers.”
Unilever and rivals from Nestle SA to Procter & Gamble Co. have relied on price increases to recoup soaring costs for raw materials in recent years. That strategy has hit a snag as economies around the world sink into recession and shoppers abandon branded goods for cheaper private labels.

For this year, Unilever has increased prices by 2.5 percent for retailers in Belgium, according to Gerth. Belgian rival Colruyt SA and Paris-based Carrefour both struck deals after accepting Unilever’s terms, Gerth said.
Delhaize plans to sell the remaining Unilever products it has in stock, and has put up signs in its stores directing shoppers to alternative brands and private labels, Rogiers said.
“Unilever offers a very broad product range that would take away our freedom to choose our own products,” said Rogiers. “We’d like to keep control over our own product range to meet our customers’ demands.” She said Delhaize is “still open to a solution.”

[Sigmaforex Promotions]

Sigma has come up with different promotions:

Forecast and Win an Account.

Practice Competition.

Revolutional Bonus Era.

Hamas group,Israel Approves First Exports From Gaza in More Than a Year

Israel today approved the first exports from the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip in more than a year, clearing the transfer of 25,000 flowers for delivery to Europe ahead of Valentine’s Day.
Israel agreed at the request of the Dutch government to allow the carnations to pass into Israel where they will be flown to Europe, said Major Peter Lerner, an Israeli Defense Ministry spokesman. He said it did not mark a change in Israeli policy.

“It’s done on a case-by-case basis and the Dutch government asked us,” he said by phone. “I’m sure the Palestinians will ask for more.”
Israeli has blockaded Gaza, a 360 square-kilometer (144- square-mile) territory on the Mediterranean coast, since the Islamic group Hamas took power in June 2007. Exports are banned and imports restricted to basic necessities.
The two sides fought a 22-day war last month that the Palestinian central bureau of statistics estimates caused about $2 billion of damage, including 80 percent of Gaza’s crops. Since the conflict ended on Jan. 18, Israel has come under pressure to ease movement into and out of Gaza.

The European Union and the U.S. classify Hamas, which denies Israel’s right to exist, as a terrorist group.
To contact the reporter on this

[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.