Dollar Holds Firm vs. Majors Ahead of U.S Home Sales
December 22nd, 2009 Posted in Analyst Picks
Name: Natalie
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The improving U.S. economy and lingering debt issues in Greece, Portugal and Spain are likely to continue to pressure the Euro further. The daily technical charts suggest a move to 1.4175 is very likely.
Today, traders will be focusing on Existing Homes Sales data coming from U.S that will signal the continuing improvement of a U.S economic recovery.
A number of important economic events coming from the Euro-Zone today will also move the EUR.
9:30 GMT GBP Current Account
- Britain traditionally suffers from a deficit in the Current Account, which includes services and money flows, in addition to goods that are reported in the trade balance release.
- Britain releases this figure every quarter, and this makes it rather “heavyweight”. In the second quarter, the deficit jumped from 4.1 to 11.4 billion, weighing on the Pound. It’s expected to ease to a 8.1 billion deficit this time.
- A better than expected release may support the GBP/USD above 1.6110. In case the pair manages to close above this point – this is a critical spot. If the pair stays above this line, it could move even higher.
14:00 GMT EUR Belgium NBB Business Climate
- Released by the National Bank of Belgium (NBB), this survey is highly respected due to its source and large sample size.
- Despite coming from one of the Euro-zone’s smaller countries, Belgium, this indicator is highly regarded, since it’s a wide survey of 6000 businesses.
- This indicator has improved in the past 7 months and even exceeded expectations, but it still remained in the negative zone. It reached -8.8 points last month. An improvement to -5.5 points is expected now which might provide some support to the European currency.
15:00 GMT USD Existing Home Sales
- It measures the number of residential buildings that were sold during the previous month, excluding new construction. While this is monthly data, it’s reported in an annualized format (monthly figure x12). Existing homes make up the majority of total sales and therefore tend to have more impact than New Home Sales
- Sales of existing U.S. homes probably rose in November to the highest level in more than 2 years, a sign housing is gaining strength and economy is improving. Purchases are forecasted to rise 2.5% to a 6.29 million annual rate.
- In this scenario, good news from the housing market might provide more strength to the greenback vs. its majors, the Pound and the Euro.
