Market Review - 24/11/2009 22:12       All times in GMT   
The greenback drops against yen as U.S. data raises concerns over economic recovery

The dollar declined to a six-week low versus the Japanese yen on Tuesday after mixed U.S. data suggested that the economic recovery is not as optimistic as initially expected. The Commerce Department indicated that the second estimate of the U.S. third quarter GDP expanded at a 2.8% annual rate, slower than the previous estimate of 3.5%. In addition, another report showed that U.S. consumer confidence came in at 49.5 versus economists' forecast of 47.7. Usd/jpy dropped to 88.35, eur/jpy tumbled from 133.24 to 132.02, aud/jpy declined from 82.39 to 81.02 while gbp/jpy slumped from 147.92 to 146.27 before rebounding.  
  
The Fed’s November 4 meeting released on Tuesday showed that policy makers are increasingly confident the U.S. economic recovery is sustainable, however, employment is not expected to pick up any time soon. In addition, officials saw the decline in dollar as 'orderly' while they warned that record low interest rates might fuel excessive speculation in financial markets. After the release of the Fed's minutes, DJI pared early losses and closed down 17 points at 10,433.   
  
Earlier, the single currency declined briefly to 1.4888 due to the more-than-3% drop in China stock market. Cross buying versus sterling lifted euro to as high as 1.4989 before another retreat was seen in New York morning. The pair later rebounded again after the FOMC minutes was released and ended the day little changed against the dollar.  
  
Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said that it is not surprising to get a 3-way split on MPC at turning point for policy and indicated that there is no immediate risk to U.K. credit. The British pound then dropped versus the dollar and the single currency as King warned that U.K. economy faces 'profound challenges'. Gbp/usd declined to 1.6497 before rebounding while eur/gbp briefly rose to 0.9057 before retreating on profit-taking.   
  
Data to be released on Wednesday include Japan trade balance, German Gfk index, U.K GDP, U.S. PCE data, durable goods orders, jobless claims, personal income and spending, University of Michigan survey and new home sales data.