Thursday, 13 Aug 2009

USD Awaits Retail Sales Publication

Part 1: The U.S. Dollar awaits the release of the U.S. Retails Sales that is set to be published at 12:30 GMT. There are several other releases that are expected to also be published at the time of U.S. market opening. These include both the Unemployment Claims and Core Retail Sales data. These data releases from the U.S. are important to follow, as they are expected to drive USD trading going into the beginning of next week.

So far today, the EUR has gained ground against the Dollar, as it is trading higher by 50 pips at the 1.4270 level. The USD is also trading 100 pips lower against the GBP at the 1.6600 level. The bullish EUR is partly owed to the German Prelim GDP data earlier today, which showed Germany officially climbed out of recession in the 2nd quarter. Additionally, the GBP continues to move higher, as the global economy recovers.

These trends may be extended if the U.S. continues to publish positive economic data today. In the mealtime, you are advised to open your USD positions now, as the time you have will be vital in making profits as today's trading gets even more exciting. It's also a good idea to open positions in commodities, such as Crude Oil, gold and Silver, as they continue to climb on better economic figures and the weak U.S. Dollar.

Part 2: The figures from the U.S. were released at 12:30 GM as scheduled. However, they were notably worse than many analysts forecast. This immediately led to extremely high volatility and trading volume in the forex market. At first the Dollar appreciated, but soon afterwards it returned back to its tremendously bearish trend that it was in prior to the heavy news release. The GBP/USD is currently trading at 1.6620, whilst the EUR/USD is trading at 1.4295. These are the 2 main crosses to watch, as the Dollar may continue weakening in the coming hours.