MARKETS REPORTING - FOREIGN EXCHANGE

Foreign exchange markets lie at the heart of today’s globalised economies and set the tone for perceptions of a country’s economic performance. Sudden currency value swings, central bank intervention, devaluations and revaluations trigger major political events. The course offers a basic understanding of traded instruments in the foreign exchange and money markets and participants learn how to follow the impact of developments such as interest rate changes, balance of payments announcements, movements in foreign exchange reserves and the impact of inflation and capital account flows.

Journalism skills addressed during the course

1. •News judgment
   

2. •Cultivating sources and obtaining exclusive stories
   

3. •Handling central bank news releases
   

4. •Writing authoritative foreign exchange market reports
   

5. •Interviews with market participants
   

6. •Knowledge of legal dangers
   

7. •Writing good leads and headlines
   

8. •Writing accurate, balanced foreign exchange stories
   

9. •Covering balance of payments and foreign reserves announcements.
   

Financial subjects addressed during the course

1. •Basic principles of foreign exchange trading
   

2. •Foreign exchange market instruments
   

3. •Spot, forward,futures and options contracts
   

4. •Trading systems and quotes.
   

Financial terms explained during the course

Spot, forwards, futures, options, balance of payments, foreign exchange reserves, revaluation and devaluation, currency baskets, SDR, eurozone, currency boards, fixed, and floating currencies, currency pegs and central bank intervention.

Course Objectives 

After completing the course, participants can expect to be able to:

1. •Write about spot and forward contract foreign exchange markets
   

2. •Explain the influential role played by domestic economic indicators such as the balance of payments, money supply targets and foreign exchange reserves
   

3. •List current global political forces driving foreign exchange rates
   

4. •Handle central bank foreign exchange intervention
   

5. •Plan stories for a currency devaluation
   

6. •Demonstrate how markets use foreign exchange derivative contracts.
   

Course Outline

Participants write their way through a case study that traces the impact of political and economic changes on a country’s foreign exchange and money markets, with feedback from experienced copy coaches. During this exercise, participants are introduced to new terms steadily and, as a review, will incorporate them into the evolving story. Learning reviews during the course ask participants in facilitated discussions to extract learning points from the output of all writers, including trainer versions, and they will build a personal action plan for post-course learning.

Pre-course work

Pre-course reading, learning agreements and a short evaluation to establish existing knowledge of foreign exchange trading.