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Forex TV's Equities & Commodities - Feb 8 02/08/10 04:46 PM - Forex TV - The DOW closes under 10,000 for the first time in 3 months and commodities gain on a weaker USD.

PM Exchange - Julie Sinha interviews Vassili Serebriakov - Feb 8 02/08/10 04:45 PM - Forex TV - Wells Fargo's Vassili Serebriakov forecasts movement in EUR/USD and USD/JPY. Serebriakov foresees quieter markets this week.

Live from the NYMEX with Tim Jennings - Feb 8 02/08/10 04:32 PM - Forex TV - President of Vantage Trading, Tim Jennings, discusses market drivers for this week and today's energy prices. Jennings says there will most likely be a correction in USD, lifting energy prices is likely.

Main Street vs. Wall Street - Feb 8 02/08/10 03:56 PM - Forex TV - ValuEngine.com's Richard Suttmeier discusses the G-7 to keep the bailout money flowing and The Dow and S&P 500 confirm weekly key reversals. Bad weather slows Bank Failure Friday.

NY Forex Market Buzz with Mike Englund - Feb 8 02/08/10 01:08 PM - Forex TV - Action Economics' Mike Englund runs down this weeks' upcoming International Trade and Treasury Budget releases.

Daily Forex Report - Feb 8 02/08/10 01:04 PM - Forex TV - Jay Norris from Brewer FX runs through fx movements and real-time forex charts.

News: Dollar Extends Downtrend On Fed's Growth Forecast
11/25/09 03:42 am (EST)

(RTTNews) - In early deals on Wednesday, the dollar extended its yesterday's downtrend against other major currencies as the Federal Reserve raised its growth forecasts for the U.S. economy.

The dollar plunged to a new 7-week low against the yen and 2-week low against the euro and the franc and a 6-day low against the pound.

Federal Reserve officials are increasingly confident the U.S. economic recovery will be durable, but do not see employment or inflation picking up soon, minutes from their November meeting showed yesterday.

The central bank raised its projection for real gross domestic product growth in 2009 to -0.4 percent to -0.1 percent, citing a faster pickup in output than what was originally projected in June. Expectations remained around 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent for 2010 and 3.4 percent to 4.5 percent for 2011.

The Federal Open Market Committee said its policy of keeping rates low might cause "excessive risk-taking" or an "unanchoring of inflation expectations," according to minutes of its Nov. 3-4 meeting.

After their meeting earlier this month, policymakers repeated a pledge to keep rates exceptionally low for "an extended period."

Some officials have argued that the Fed's policy of rock-bottom borrowing costs may be driving investors to lever up their bets by using the falling U.S. dollar to fund their trades.

The FOMC said it did not believe such speculative activity had taken place to date, saying the dollar's decline had thus far been "orderly."

"Any tendency for dollar depreciation to intensify or to put significant upward pressure on inflation would bear close watching," the minutes said.

Last week, policy makers in China and Japan said low U.S. interest rates are fueling surging prices of commodities as well as financial assets in emerging markets.

The U.S. dollar that closed yesterday's trading at 1.0090 against the Swiss franc declined to a 2-week low of 1.0044 in early deals on Wednesday. The next downside target level for the dollar-franc pair is seen at 1.0035.

Most Asian stocks and European stocks advanced today on renewed signs the global economic recovery is gathering momentum. This has also exerted downward pressure on the U.S. currency.

Thus far, the dollar has lost 1.6% against the franc from a 16-day high of 1.0225 hit on November 20.

During early deals on Wednesday, the US dollar fell to a 2-week low of 1.5029 against the euro. This may be compared to Tuesday's closing value of 1.4969. If the dollar weakens further, it may target the 1.505 level.

The euro-dollar did not show any major reaction to the GfK report released at 2:00 am ET, which showed an unexpected decline in German consumer confidence. But the dollar started weakening again after an hour.

The forward-looking consumer confidence index fell to 3.7 for December from 4 in the prior month. Economists were expecting the index to remain unchanged at 4.

The dollar plunged to a 14- 1/2 -month low of 1.5064 against the euro on October 26. Since then, the euro-dollar pair has largely been showing choppy trading.

The Singapore-based DBS bank said in a note on Monday that currencies have not been doing much, in reality.

Citing the EUR/USD pair, DBS Group Research noted that pair has been trading largely in a range between 1.4680 and 1.5050 since October. That said, the USD's safe haven appeal during risk aversion is no longer as strong during risk aversion.

Analysts at UniCredit said today that the EUR-USD is still struggling between 1.49 and 1.50 and they don't see this behavior changing much today. They still favor staying long ahead of a definitive break above 1.50.

In early deals on Wednesday, the dollar weakened against the pound. At present, the dollar is trading at a 6-day low of 1.6730 against the pound with 1.688 seen as the next target level. The pound-dollar pair was worth 1.6586 at yesterday's close.

Commenting on the U.K. currency, analysts at UniCredit noted today the Cable is still unable to exit the 1.6490-1.6690 band and the UK GDP revision today is unlikely to spur a sustained reaction. On the other hand, they suggest selling EUR-GBP on a rally as long as 0.9067 holds.

After hitting a 16-day high of 1.6463 against the pound on November 20, the dollar has dropped 1.3%.

The dollar plummeted to 88.22 against the yen in early trading on Wednesday. This set the lowest point for the U.S. currency since October 08. If the dollar-yen pair weakens further, it may target a multi-month low of 88.0. At yesterday's New York session close, the pair was quoted at 88.51.

Analysts at UniCredit noted today the USD-JPY erosion has continued, although investors were cautious about aggressive offers below 88. "We remain long at around 88.50", they added.

Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii said the yen is gaining because of weakness in the dollar. "It's all because of the U.S. dollar," Fujii told reporters in Tokyo today, without elaborating. He said low interest rates in the U.S. are behind the currency's drop.

The yen has advanced more than 4% against the dollar since it touched a 5-week low of 92.34 on October 27. Some of the gains were spurred by Fujii's remarks that he opposed "easy intervention" into markets to weaken the yen. He has since toned down his comments, saying Japan will act if the currency moves in an "abnormal or disorderly" way.

Japanese authorities haven't stepped into the currency market since the first quarter of 2004.

Looking ahead, the Italian consumer confidence for November, retail sales for September and the revised results of third quarter GDP from U.K. are expected to influence trading in the upcoming hours.

Across the Atlantic, there will be a flurry of data released today ahead of Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday, notable among them being the durable goods orders, PCE deflator, new home sales- all for the month of October and the final reading of the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment numbers for November.

The Labor Department's weekly jobless claims report for the week ended November 21 is also due for release.