{"id":10467,"date":"2010-06-23T08:09:11","date_gmt":"2010-06-23T12:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/fx\/?p=10467"},"modified":"2010-06-23T08:09:11","modified_gmt":"2010-06-23T12:09:11","slug":"dollar-gains-as-attention-turns-to-fed-rates-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/2010\/06\/23\/dollar-gains-as-attention-turns-to-fed-rates-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Dollar Gains as Attention Turns to Fed Rates Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Source: <strong><strong><strong><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.forexyard.com\/?zone_id=1398\" target=\"_blank\">ForexYard<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The US currency recovered some earlier gains against the EUR yesterday  as stocks turned notably lower in afternoon trading, indicating to fx  traders that investors&#8217; appetite for riskier assets has diminished. The  main piece of US economic news during today&#8217;s session will be the  Federal Funds Rate decision. At the end of their 2-day meeting Wednesday  afternoon, the Federal Reserve is expected to keep interest rates at  near-zero and to maintain its pledge to keep these low rates in place  for an extended period of time.<\/p>\n<h2>Economic News<\/h2>\n<h3>USD &#8211; Dollar Up vs. EUR for 2nd Straight Day<\/h3>\n<p>The US dollar gained for its second straight day against the EUR on  Tuesday as new concerns about the funding needs of European banks offset  stronger-than-expected German economic data. Against the Japanese yen,  the Dollar fell to 90.56, from 91.97 late Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The greenback  had been higher earlier in the session as a downgrade of a major French  bank resurrected worries about the European economic outlook, and as  enthusiasm over China&#8217;s revised currency policy faded.<\/p>\n<p>Also  affecting the foreign-exchange market, analysts have said that investors  trimmed their expectations that China&#8217;s plans to loosen its so-called  peg against the US dollar will boost global economic growth.<\/p>\n<p>Beijing&#8217;s  weekend announcement had spurred a sharp rally in US stocks,  commodities and currencies highly sensitive to economic growth, such as  the Australian dollar, to start the trading week, while weighing on  investments seen as safety plays &#8212; including the US dollar. Now,  however, the initial euphoria appears to have faded.<\/p>\n<h3>EUR &#8211; EUR\/USD Pulls Back from 1-Month High<\/h3>\n<p>The European currency retreated from a one-month high against the US  dollar on Tuesday, tracking a pullback in the yuan a day after China&#8217;s  pledge to allow its currency to trade more freely had spurred risk  demand. The EUR barely reacted to the German Ifo business climate index,  which came in slightly higher than expected at a two-year peak in June,  while the expectations index fell.<\/p>\n<p>The upward momentum seen on  Monday in the EUR and higher-risk currencies, including the Australian  dollar, petered out as investors acknowledged that a more flexible yuan  policy would not lead to a sharp appreciation in the currency. The euro  traded at $1.2271, down 0.2% on the day after falling to $1.2259. The  EUR pulled back from $1.2490 hit on Monday, its strongest since May 24,  after failing to break into the $1.25 region.<\/p>\n<p>Analysts have said  that a ratings downgrade of French bank BNP Paribas by Fitch, and  Standard &amp; Poor&#8217;s announcement that it was raising its estimates for  loan losses for Spain&#8217;s banking sector on Monday, also weighed on the  EUR. The single currency extended losses after Moody&#8217;s Investor Services  cut two Greek government sponsored ABS. Market players said the EUR  would face more losses, but technical analysts said near-term support  was seen at $1.2253.<\/p>\n<h3>JPY &#8211; Yen Rises vs. Major Currencies<\/h3>\n<p>The Japanese yen rallied against all 16 of its most-traded  counterparts after a report showed existing-home sales in the US  unexpectedly fell in May, spurring speculation that growth may be  slowing in the world&#8217;s largest economy. It rose 0.6% to 90.57 per  dollar, from 91.11 yesterday.<\/p>\n<p>Japan&#8217;s currency also gained  against the EUR in more than two weeks amid speculation that European  banks will struggle to raise money. The JPY rose 1.2%, the most on an  intraday basis since June 7, to 110.86 euro before trading at 111.14 up  0.9%.<\/p>\n<h3>Crude Oil &#8211; Oil Declines for First Time in 3 Days as US Home Sales  Drop<\/h3>\n<p>Crude Oil prices dropped for the first time in 3 days as sales of  existing US homes unexpectedly fell in May, signaling the economy is  struggling to recover. The contract earlier hit an intraday high of  $78.95 a barrel, but had gone down all the way to $77.79 prior to that.<\/p>\n<p>After  floor trading closed, a report by the Washington-based American  Petroleum Institute showed a surprise increase in oil and oil-products  inventories, ahead of a more closely watched report by the Department of  Energy today at 14:30 GMT.<\/p>\n<h2>Technical News<\/h2>\n<h3>EUR\/USD<\/h3>\n<p>The Bollinger Bands on the hourly chart appear to be tightening in  expectation of a volatile movement. The price seems to be floating in  the over-sold territory on the 4-hour chart&#8217;s RSI, and the weekly  chart&#8217;s Momentum oscillator is still pointing upward. The chance exists  that the volatile movement will be upward as a result. Traders can take  advantage by going long with tight stops in place.<\/p>\n<h3>GBP\/USD<\/h3>\n<p>This currency pair appears to be continuing its cyclical movement  within the current bullish channel. After a recent upturn there is a  chance that we will see some downward pressure on this pair to conform  to the present trend. The price already looks to be entering the  over-bought region of the daily RSI which gives us an indication that it  is expected to depreciate in the near future.<\/p>\n<h3>USD\/JPY<\/h3>\n<p>After a modest downturn, the USD\/JPY now appears to be expecting an  upward correction. The current price of 90.50 seems to be a solid  support level which this pair has found difficult to breach. The 4-hour  Stochastic (slow) is showing a fresh bullish cross, and the weekly  chart&#8217;s Momentum oscillator has flattened out from its previous downward  direction. It seems as if an upward shift could take place soon and  traders can take advantage by entering long positions early.<\/p>\n<h3>USD\/CHF<\/h3>\n<p>The Stochastic (slow) indicator on the daily chart for this pair  seems to be showing a recent bullish cross. After breaching the lower  border of the daily chart&#8217;s Bollinger Bands, this pair now appears to be  undergoing its expected bullish correction. Going long with tight stops  may not be a bad idea today.<\/p>\n<h2>The Wild Card<\/h2>\n<h3>USD\/NOK<\/h3>\n<p>Following a modest increase in value, the price of this pair now  appears poised for a bearish correction. The 4-hour Stochastic (slow)  indicator is showing a fresh bearish cross, suggesting that the next  major movement will be in a downward direction. The 4-hour RSI also  shows the price being over-bought, which highlights the downward  pressure already present on this pair. Forex traders can take advantage  of this impending downward movement by entering their short positions  now, and at a great entry price.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Forex Market Analysis<\/em> provided by<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.forexyard.com\/?zone_id=1398\" target=\"_blank\">Forex               Yard.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 2006 by FxYard Ltd<\/p>\n<p>Disclaimer: Trading Foreign Exchange carries a high level of risk and               may not be suitable for all investors. There is a    possibility      that     you   could sustain a loss of all of your    investment and      therefore  you     should  not invest money that you    cannot afford to      lose. You  should  be    aware of  all the  risks   associated with   Foreign    Exchange  trading.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By ForexYard &#8211; The US currency recovered some earlier gains against the EUR yesterday as stocks turned notably lower in afternoon trading, indicating to fx traders that investors&#8217; appetite for riskier assets&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10467\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}