After several lacklustre years, the $5-trillion (3.3 trillion pounds) foreign exchange market has bolted back to life with institutional investors leading the charge and banks standing to gain from the activity. Currency volumes spiked in January and have stayed robust so far, thanks to unexpectedly strong and persistent rallies in the euro and weakness in the yen, demand from institutional clients, and increased flows in world equity markets. A strong mergers and acquisitions sector has also boosted turnover in the world's largest financial market, as often large volumes of currencies need to be traded for ... (full story)