Forex Trading TV Video Blog

The Dollar lost versus all of the major currencies yesterday. The USD lost 62 points against the EUR and closed at 1.5742. Traders should also note that the USD lost 148 points vs. the GBP, ultimately closing 1.9834. Yesterday only one indicator came to light, which did not have a clear effect on the greenback. The Crude Oil Inventories that came in lower than expected at -5.9M were announced.

Looking further today, three indicators will be published. The Unemployment Claims is forecasted to decline to 397k after being recorded at a surprising high of above 400k last week. The Fed Chairman Bernanke will testify, along with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, on financial market regulation before the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services. After a hawkish speech previously, Bernanke will need to repeat such a performance to help the struggling USD. The Natural Gas Storage last publication came in at 85b and is expected to rise which also might push the USD slightly up. Thus Dollar is expected to appreciate versus its currency pairs.

Traders should note a new response by consumers to the high gasoline prices. Consumers decided to avoid spending money on gasoline that is not necessary for their daily lives. Thus a 5 year low of gasoline expenditure developed. This probably will slowly decrease oil prices which in the long term should affect U.S. dollar prices.

As only a few indicators are expected to effect the USD investors are advised to follow the news of its counterparts.

My Forex Blog

The USD lost steam from last week’s strengthening vs. most of the major currencies as investors continued to feed their risk appetite, leading the higher-yielding commodity currencies higher. The greenback also weakened amid renewed concerns that the Federal Reserve could still have to cut Interest Rates to boost growth. As a result, the USD dropped 0.2% on the day at 1.5513 vs. the EUR having earlier hiked above the 1.54 mark.

Yesterday’s speech by Chicago Fed President Evans lowered the growth prospects for the U.S. economy. In his speech he highlighted the growing weakness in household spending, and said that the economic growth will probably remain dawdling throughout 2008. The U.S. inflation prospects also remain quite gloomy. Economists expect it to fall within 1.5% to 2% by 2010.

Looking ahead to today, we have a batch of very important US data. With the many speeches to follow, the most important speech will be delivered by the Fed Chairman Bernanke. High volatility is expected during his speech as investors will attempt to decipher Interest Rate clues. Traders will also focus their attention today on the Core Retail Sales and the Retail Sales figures. These indices shall give a more accurate picture of the consumer spending, which is a major driver of the economy and has a sizable impact on GDP. Traders pay close attention to Retail Sales because it is usually the first significant indicator of the month that relates to consumer behavior and is susceptible to surprises.

Today traders may expect another volatile trading session for the U.S. currency as negative data can retain greenback’s bearish trend. Overall, we expect the greenback to remain consistent, as it could see small drops against its European counterpart.

My Forex Blog