Following a six consecutive week run of gaining against the Euro, the U.S. Dollar closed on Friday down against the single European currency, posting a 0.136% loss from last week’s opening price, as worries of Greece’s debt crisis began to ease and Forex trading investors felt better regarding the Euro-zone economies.
Last week ended with the United States’ Department of Commerce announcing that U.S economy beat expectations for the last three months of 2009, and expanded at a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.9%. This rise in the Prelim GDP for the fourth quarter of last year marks the best performance for the past six years, further reflecting a rise in business investments as well as an increase in contributions from inventories. However, while the U.S economy grew slightly faster than predicted, the revision to the GDP shows that final sales within the U.S were actually weaker than those reported a month ago – as almost two thirds of the GDP’s growth was due to change in inventories, not final sales. Despite this greater than expected growth, the greenback tumbled against the Euro on Friday, as traders sold the USD to cover extreme euro short positions as speculation increased that Europe’s debt problem could soon be resolved.
Later in the day, the National Association of Realtors announced that the resale of homes and condos within the U.S plummeted 7.2%. While analysts had predicted a slight increase, sales of existing homes took a turn for the worse slipping to a new seven month low of 5.50million. After steadily rising throughout the fall of last year, sales of existing homes have fallen for the past two consecutive months. This unanticipated decrease further fueled concerns about the strength of the housing market recovery, as it follows a sharp decline in the sales of New Homes, which reportedly slipped to their lowest level on record for January.
However, The U.S. dollar index edged higher in the Asian trading session today rising to 80.42, supported at the margins by the better an anticipated GDP. Later today, the U.S. is set to publish (1500GMT) the much anticipated ISM Manufacturing PMI. For the past few months, this heavily watched purchasing managers index has been on the rise, last month jumping as high as 58.4 – this month analysts are expected it to slip back down to 57.9
Last week ended with the United States’ Department of Commerce announcing that U.S economy beat expectations for the last three months of 2009, and expanded at a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.9%. This rise in the Prelim GDP for the fourth quarter of last year marks the best performance for the past six years, further reflecting a rise in business investments as well as an increase in contributions from inventories. However, while the U.S economy grew slightly faster than predicted, the revision to the GDP shows that final sales within the U.S were actually weaker than those reported a month ago – as almost two thirds of the GDP’s growth was due to change in inventories, not final sales. Despite this greater than expected growth, the greenback tumbled against the Euro on Friday, as traders sold the USD to cover extreme euro short positions as speculation increased that Europe’s debt problem could soon be resolved.
Later in the day, the National Association of Realtors announced that the resale of homes and condos within the U.S plummeted 7.2%. While analysts had predicted a slight increase, sales of existing homes took a turn for the worse slipping to a new seven month low of 5.50million. After steadily rising throughout the fall of last year, sales of existing homes have fallen for the past two consecutive months. This unanticipated decrease further fueled concerns about the strength of the housing market recovery, as it follows a sharp decline in the sales of New Homes, which reportedly slipped to their lowest level on record for January.
However, The U.S. dollar index edged higher in the Asian trading session today rising to 80.42, supported at the margins by the better an anticipated GDP. Later today, the U.S. is set to publish (1500GMT) the much anticipated ISM Manufacturing PMI. For the past few months, this heavily watched purchasing managers index has been on the rise, last month jumping as high as 58.4 – this month analysts are expected it to slip back down to 57.9