Good day. The dollar fell against many of the higher-yielding currencies yesterday following a speech by Fed Chairman Bernanke, which the markets interpreted as signaling Fed policies will remain accommodative for some time. Investors have been linking the more-positive U.S. data, including a steadily improving labor market, with concern that the Fed’s policymakers would have to retract their January statement that U.S. monetary policy would remain “exceptionally accommodative.”
[Read more...]Gold Demand Drops as Indian Jewelers Close in Protest
March 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The currency markets were fairly calm yesterday, with the dollar pretty much unchanged from the levels I reported in yesterday’s Pfennig. There really wasn’t much new information to push the dollar one way or the other, and the news scrolling on the currency trading screens mainly rehashed concerns over China’s slowdown.
[Read more...]Dollar Declines, Then Reverses Course This Morning
March 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Good day. It was a warm walk across the bridge this morning, hard to believe we have temperatures in the mid-80s so early in the year. We usually get some odd days during March, which bring the temperatures up, but this summerlike weather has stayed for most of the month. It has certainly faked the plants out, as they are leafing out well ahead of schedule. Today, we will start to see if the nice weather we have had across the country has helped the housing industry. At least one Fed head is saying the warm weather is partially responsible for some of the recent gains we have seen in the economic data.
[Read more...]US Employment Figures Continue to Improve
March 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Good day. This will take care of my call from the bullpen for now, so Chris will have the ball for the next couple of weeks until Chuck returns at the end of the month. The summertime heat finally loosened its grip on St. Louis yesterday, and the dollar strength, which had a tight hold in the markets earlier in the week, saw some pullback. We didn’t see much action in the overnight markets Thursday morning, so everything was fairly flat when I sat down at my desk.
[Read more...]German Factory Orders Drop
March 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The “fear factor” has been reduced in the eurozone, as it appears that private investors are accepting their medicine, and taking their dose of the Greek bond swap. Societe Generale, France’s second-largest bank, and UniCredit have announced that they will accept the terms of the bond swap, along with a long list of other companies that too have announced acceptance of the terms. This flood of private investors announcing that they would accept the terms has lifted the fear factor for the euro (EUR) this morning. But by all means, that doesn’t mean the euro is out of the woods, folks.
[Read more...]US Dollar Settles Into a Trading Range
March 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The currency markets rode out the rough waters of Wednesday and made it to a bit calmer seas yesterday. The dollar traded in a fairly tight range as reports released in the morning showed initial jobless claims remained just over 350,000, and continuing claims also remained steady. Both of these numbers were slightly better than estimates, but neither moved the markets.
[Read more...]Euphoria Over Greek Debt Deal Fades
February 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Friday’s price action was interesting in that the euro (EUR) held onto the 1.34 handle, but gold was down $7. Hmmm… One anti-dollar doing well, while the other one weakens… The other anti-dollar, so proclaimed by me last week, oil, saw continued interest in pushing the price higher. And with that higher price in oil, the emerging countries, and the Asian countries with their nascent recoveries, are all feeling squeamish about their growth prospect, given that elevated price in oil…
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EU Finance Ministers to Double Bailout Fund
Good day. The dollar traded in a fairly tight range most of the day, holding on to earlier gains. But just after lunch, sentiment shifted and the dollar started to drop, closing U.S. trading below the level it opened. And the fall accelerated as Asian traders entered the markets, pushing the euro (EUR) back above $1.335 and Aussie (AUD) over $1.04.
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