Today sees the release of US Q4 GDP, personal consumption and GDP figures in the US. These figures are key to traders looking for insight into how the US economy has performed on the open of this year.
We can expect the market to react fiercely to the news if anything other than what is expected is released. We could potentially see another break of 1.60 on bad news yet the market is expecting the stream of positive news to continue betting on the Dollar in opening trade this morning. …

Last Night Federal Reserve’s policy announcement illustrated a dovish tone pushing the US Dollar onto the back foot today versus the majority of the world’s most actively traded currencies. The FOMC acknowledged that the US economic recovery is gaining momentum with growth in household and investment spending steadily increasing.

Sterling dipped dramatically overnight against both the Euro and the US Dollar. GBP/EUR is trading at a yearly low of 1.1532 and GBP/USD is up slightly off the low at 1.58. This move follows yesterday’s largely unexpected decline in Gross Domestic Product in the UK. The headline figure released by the office for national statistics showed that the economy contracted 0.5% in the final quarter of 2009, markets had been anticipating growth of 0.4.
Markets do not seem to have accepted the explanation that the appalling GDP figure is simply …

The Euro has gained considerably in the last week as speculators confidence gains on news that sovereign debt problems seem to be subsiding. The Euro is also being fundamentally supported on inflation concerns in the Eurozone.

Yesterday employment figures showed that overall employment fell 0.3% with a loss of 69,000 jobs. Jobless Claims fell 4.1k in December after falling 3.2k in November, the lowest level for 21 months. The claimant count (4.5%) and ILO unemployment rate ( 7.9%), remained unchanged.
The expectations for the labour market this year are poor with private sector job creation expected to come under pressure with the severe austerity measures set in place to reduce the UK budget deficit. Austerity measures always impact on growth meaning ultimately less trade for the …

Despite strong quarterly earnings reports from tech giants Apple and IBM, the dollar remains weak across the board.
Apple followed up Tuesday’s (January 18) disappointing news that CEO Steve Jobs would be taking another medical leave of absence with impressive first quarter earnings.
The company announced fiscal net income that was higher by 78 per cent compared to its first quarter in 2010. The major catalyst for the holiday season performance was the sale of 7.3 million iPads, over one million more than had been projected.
IBM beat analyst expectations by reporting …

UK Jobless claims are expected to remain flat in December after falling 1.2k in November. The claimant count is also expected to stay stable at 4.5%. Sterling has in recent days seen an aggressive rally on expectations that interest rates will have to go up to combat inflationary pressures. However today’s news could see a correction in Sterling’s gains as the currency stands at a crossroads ahead of what is expected to be a dismal jobless claims report.