Forex Tips & Daily Analysis

Economical News

USD

Yesterday the greenback weakened sharply all across the board on the back of the release of the FOMC Meeting Minutes. The greenback slipped to new all time low against the EUR touching the 1.4852 mark, as the minutes gave another strong indication to the market that the Fed will once again cut rates in order to prevent the U.S economy from slipping into recession. The Fed indicated that it expects U.S growth to slow to between 1.8 and 2.5%, which is much lower than previous forecasts. Therefore the Fed is now expected to cut rates by at least 0.25%, in order to stimulate growth by attempting to alleviate the housing and credit crisis.

However, the dollar selling began well before the FOMC Minutes with the release of weaker than expected Building Permits figure. This figure was forecasted to come in at 1.20M but it released at 1.18M, showing a sharp drop from last month's figure of 1.26M. This downside surprise increased the pressure on the greenback as it indicated that the earlier rate cut by the fund is struggling to provide the housing slump with some reprieve and it raised concerns of curbing future economic growth. There was some positive news for the greenback as the Housing Starts figure released better than expected, but this was greatly overshadowed by the negative Building Permits figure and by the FOMC Minutes. The weakness of the dollar yesterday also caused commodities to become more appealing to investors and this shoved Crude Oil passed the key $99 mark. The rising price of oil coupled with the continued subprime crisis will put immense pressure on the U.S economy. However the weak dollar may cause exports to boom as U.S exporters become more competitive on the global market.

Looking ahead to today, the most important news to be released from the U.S will be Unemployment Claims, which is expected to release slightly weaker than last month and Consumer Sentiment, which is forecasted to remain unchanged. If these figures do not cause any major surprises then the greenback should consolidate today after dropping to record lows yesterday. However the dollar sentiment is still very bearish and this is not likely to change in the near future, particularly since many analysts believe that it is in the Fed's interest to maintain a weak dollar.

EUR

The EUR continued its bullish rampage against the greenback hitting another record high. Although the EUR has been a very resilient currency since its inception, yesterday's new high was driven mainly by the negative sentiment surrounding the greenback as opposed to actual EUR robustness. The only news released from the Eurozone yesterday was the German PPI, which came in at a beating expectations figure of 0.4%. This was another positive sign for the EUR as Germany is one of the key players in the European economy. However the strong EUR may concern the ECB as Germany is heavily reliant on exports, but so far there have been no noticeable indications that the strong EUR is dampening growth. Today is also relatively light on Eurozone news as we are only expecting the Italian Retail Sales figure and it should not have any impact on the EUR. After yesterday's sharp spike against the greenback, the EUR may retreat slightly today but with the negative dollar sentiment being so strong, it will target new highs against the fledgling U.S currency in the near term.

JPY

Carry trades continued to unwind yesterday as the volatility of the currency markets is steadily raising the cost of hedging. Therefore since the carry trade strategy mainly involves borrowing from Japan where interest rates are low, the unwind has caused the JPY to gain significantly in recent weeks. The JPY continued to rise yesterday against the greenback after disappointing news put more pressure on the U.S currency. Also the JPY managed to maintain its bullish trend against the high yielding currencies as U.S subprime mortgages widened.

Earlier today, during the Asian trading session, the Japanese trade balance released slightly lower than the expected figure of 1.08T, at 1.07T. Also the All Industries Activity Index, which measures the change in spending for goods and services, released in negative territory at -1.6%. However this could not stop the JPY's positive momentum which should continue in the near term on the back of increased risk aversion.

Technical Analysis

EUR/USD

After yesterday's ascending triangle breakout shown on the 4 hour chart, brought this pair to an all time high of 1.4856, as an upcoming bearish trend is expected. This might send the pair to the 1.4775 (Fibonacci 76.4%) support level before gathering some new energy.

Going short for the short term, seems to be preferable today.

GBP/USD

Today, this pair may hover between 2.0695 - 2.0571 as an upcoming bearish trend is expected and the first target price is located at 2.0637 (Fibonacci 76.4%) support level. In case of a breakout this pair may test the 2.0572 (Fibonacci 50.0%) second support level.

Going short seems to be preferable today.

USD/JPY

The daily chart is showing a continuing bearish trend and we may see this pair consolidate at 107.70 within the next 5 days.

Today, a bearish channel is establishing on the 4 hour chart which indicates the continuation of the current bearish trend and could break the 109.00 level.

Going short seems like the preferable strategy.

USD/CHF

The 4 hour chart implies that an upcoming bullish trend is expected as the RSI and Momentum indicators are showing a positive slope, and the Slow Stochastic is crossed in oversold territory.

Today, going long might be preferable.

Wild Card

Crude Oil

An upcoming bearish trend is expected as the Slow Stochastic is crossing on overbought territory. It is supported by the RSI which is also hovering at overbought territory and with a negative slope offering a reevaluation to 97.45 USD per barrel. Forex traders should be patient and seek an attractive entry point for a long position somewhere below 97.45 USD.

Market Trend

	EUR/USD	GBP/USD	USD/JPY	USD/CHF	AUD/USD	EUR/GBP
Daily Trend
Weekly Trend
Resistance	1.4907	2.0732	109.72	1.1126	0.8925	0.7250
	1.4888	2.0704	109.50	1.1100	0.8902	0.7223
	1.4860	2.0680	109.35	1.1080	0.8875	0.7199
Support	1.4809	2.0627	109.79	1.1034	0.8809	0.7150
	1.4781	2.0601	108.88	1.1008	0.8790	0.7122
	1.4755	2.0572	108.62	1.0985	0.8768	0.7100

Indicators

Date	Time GMT	$€£¥	Event	Period	Prev.	Forecast	Imp
2007-11-21	09:30	GBP	MPC Meeting Minutes		8-1
		MPC Meeting Minutes The Bank of England (BOE) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) Meeting Minutes are a detailed record of the committee's interest rate meeting held about two weeks earlier. The minutes expose the votes cast at the meeting and can give traders further insight into the central bank's stance on monetary policy. Traders carefully comb the minutes for clues regarding future interest rate shifts.
2007-11-21	13:30	USD	Unemployment Claims		339K	330K
		Unemployment Claims Measures the number of individuals who filed for unemployment insurance for the first time during the past week. A falling trend has a positive effect on the nation's currency because working people tend to spend more money, and consumer spending makes up a large portion of GDP. This weekly indicator produces very timely data, but traders generally view unemployment as a lagging indicator that gives little indication of the economy’s future performance.
2007-11-21	13:30	CAD	Retail Sales		0.7%	0.1%
		Retail Sales Measures the value of sales at the retail level. A rising trend has a positive effect on the nation's currency because Retail Sales make up a large portion of consumer spending, which is a major driver of the economy and has a sizable impact on GDP. Traders pay close attention to Retail Sales because it is usually the first significant indicator of the month that relates to consumer behavior and is susceptible to surprises.
2007-11-21	13:30	CAD	Core Retail Sales		0.3%	0.3%
		Core Retail Sales Derivative of Retail Sales that excludes the Automobile Sales component. Automobile Sales make up roughly 25% of Retail Sales, but they can be very volatile from month to month and can distort the picture. Retail Sales with the exclusion of this volatile component is thought to be a better indicator of the underlying trend in consumer spending.
2007-11-21	15:00	USD	Consumer Sentiment (p)		75.0	75.0
		Consumer Sentiment (p) Measures consumer attitudes concerning both the present situation and future expectations. It's derived from a monthly 500-person survey conducted by the University of Michigan. Higher sentiment levels are a leading indicator of rising consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of the economy.