What I do every morning - First Impression - [Water Travel]

Just as everyone has a different lifestyle, the times at which people engage with the market vary from person to person. Mr. Noriyuki Mizukami, who boasts a career of more than 30 years in investing, how does he approach the market from the moment he wakes up? Please tell us about the routine he performs every morning without fail.

※This article is a reproduction and edit of FX Unlocking.com’s July 2019 issue. The market information written in the main text may differ from the current market, so please be aware.

Profile of Noriyuki Mizukami

Mizukami Noriyuki. President of Baneya Market Focus. After graduating from Sophia University’s Faculty of Economics in 1978, he joined Sanwa Bank (now Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group). After five years in branch operations, he worked as a currency dealer in London, Tokyo, and New York. He is known in the Tokyo Foreign Exchange Market as “Sanwa’s Mizukami.” He served as Foreign Exchange Department Head at Dresdner Bank. From 1996, at RBS Bank, he held the position of Foreign Exchange Department Head and later Foreign Exchange Sales Director. From 2007, he has been the president of Baneya Market Focus. He is well regarded for his high-precision market forecasts based on years of experience and knowledge.

Wake up a little after 4:30 to check the first impression of the market

The first impression, literally the first impression, is what I rely on. I wake up a little after 4:30 every morning and look at the prices of major currency pairs near the New York close. The reason is that comparing the level I saw before sleeping with the level near the New York close provides a first impression that helps greatly in envisioning the 24 hours to come.

I don’t just check exchange rates; I also look at the Dow Jones, the US 10-year Treasury yield, crude oil prices, and gold prices. When I see those numbers, the instant sense I get tends to be accurate. Based on that first impression, I think about how the next 24 hours will unfold, and that has been my daily routine for many years.

For example, it is said that the masters of go and shogi can read dozens of moves ahead the moment they see the board. I don’t consider myself such a master, but I believe this first impression is not something to ignore when trying to see ahead.