Cheers Turn to Jeers as D-day Nears!

EUR

The Euro gained early in Tuesdays session only to give it back later on as the US markets opened and investors began taking profits and returned to the safe haven Dollar in advance of Thursday’s US stress test release and the European Central Bank’s decision on interest rates and stimulus. The past few sessions saw the Euro benefit from the positive sentiment on the street as traders took advantage of good economic news to come out from hiding behind the stalwart Dollar and Yen. However, as Thursday’s ECB meeting comes close, investors who traded the Euro in recent days are cashing in and taking cover once more. We, forex online traders can expect to see strength in the Euro should there be signs that the ECB will not adopt and aggressive policy – a topic that has been widely debated in recent weeks and seemingly dominated the market news.

At 11:00PM GMT, the Euro was trading down .4% to the Yen to 131.88, down 1.1% to the Sterling to .8831, down .4% to the Canadian Dollar to 1.567, down 1.2% to the Australian Dollar to 1.7926 and flat to the Swiss Franc after an up and down session to 1.5102.

USD

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that it was his assessment that the economy is “turning the corner” and that the US could see growth in the second half of this year. This testimony in front of the US Congress contradicted his last month’s report when he declared that it could take until mid-2010 before any growth is seen. What should have been good news was muted by jitters over the release of the stress test this coming Thursday and an announcement by President Obama that he intends to raise business taxes by 5% in the short term to help cover the ever growing national debt. It is thought that 10 of the 19 banks that submitted to the US Treasury’s stress test will have to raise additional revenue in order to remain solvent, however to what degree these companies are struggling was the source of much debate on Tuesday.

At 11:20PM GMT, at broker trading boards, the US Dollar was down .7% to the Euro to 1.3315, up .22% to the Yen to 98.68, down .45% to the British Pound, down .2% to the Canadian Dollar to 1.1746, up .6% to the Swiss Franc to 1.1325, and down .8% to the New Zealand Dollar to .581.

AUD

The Reserve Bank of Australia held interest rates today at 3% after the members said that signs that the recession has grown in Australia are not present and in fact, there are positives that can be interpreted as strength. The Australian Dollar has benefitted lately as investors tested their risk appetite and moved to the higher yielding Aussie Dollar in order to lock in some larger profits.

At 11:40PM GMT, in addition to being up to the Euro, the Australian Dollar rose .45% to the US Dollar to .7421, up .65% to the Yen to 73.52, down .06% to the Pound to 2.034 and down .3% to the New Zealand Dollar to 1.2791.