The USD underwent an impactful bullish trading session last week, as it appreciated versus all of its major currency rivals. The greenback saw significant bullishness towards the end of the week as the very significant and fragile Pending Home Sales that were expected to be released at a negative value, completely beat the forecasts and were measured at a positive rate of 5.3%. Crude Oil also affected the USD and was very volatile last week. Traders noted that Crude Oil was traded above $120 a barrel for part of last week, but dropped almost as low as $115 a barrel on Friday. At the end of the week, the USD was traded under the 1.50 level against the EUR and above the 110.00 level against the JPY. Traders should also notice that towards the end of last week, the USD’s strength was assisted by the EUR’s bearishness with a gloomy speech by the president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet. Trichet tried to explain the relationship between growth and inflation, obstinate that there was no bias either way, but his comments regarding second quarter growth in the Euro-Zone that had been “substantially weaker” seemed to signal an end to interest-rate hikes.

This week will start with less volatility for the USD as no news releases are expected today, but impactful news events are expected to be released from the U.S. during the rest of the week. Here are the major releases on tap this week and their forecasts are a negative and declining Trade Balance which will be announced Tuesday, a declining increase rate in Core Retail Sales and Core CPI compared to last month and Preliminary UoM Consumer Sentiment which is expected to show an increase in consumer spending. The Crude Oil prices will see extra volatility on Wednesday as Crude Oil Inventories will be released and traders should note this trend and its effect on the greenback.

Looking specifically at today’s economic calendar in the U.S, there is no expectation of new economic data from the U.S. The USD’s own volatility will be determined by its currency counterparts, with most of the focus expected to go to the EUR, notably the French Industrial Production which is expected to help the EUR regain some of its losses against the USD. After bullish trading to close out the trading week, the USD might begin this trading session with some bearishness.