The buck extended gains against most of the majors in the NY session as optimism that the government bailout will be passed soon seemingly helped matters. Moreover, the market looks to be positioning ahead of what looks likely to be a rather dovish post-ECB press conference from Trichet tomorrow. EUR/USD took it on the chin and fell more than -65 pips in the span to a close just above the 1.4010 mark. GBP/USD was clobbered more than -80 pips towards the 1.7705/10 area as well.
Weakness in US equity markets helped nudge JPY crosses lower. Stocks fell a relatively modest -0.5% on weakness in industrial stocks. Financials added another 2% on the heels of yesterday's surge. With the SEC ostensibly extending the ban on shorting financial stocks, we expect the downside here to be somewhat limited. USD/JPY shed about -50 pips in NY trading to a close near 105.70/75 while EUR/JPY plunged -140 pips into the 148.15/20 area.
The US Senate is set to vote tonight (around 2000ET) on the bailout package and it seems as though it will pass will relative ease there. Uncertainty remains as to whether the House will muster enough votes (on Friday) to pass the bill. US House majority leader Hoyer said earlier today that Democrats have not added any ''yea'' votes and that he can't be sure Republicans will change their minds either. Rest assured that if that vote takes place during trading hours on Friday, volatility will be the flavor of the hour!
Upcoming Economic Data Releases (Asia Session):
- 10/1/2008 23:50 GMT JN Monetary Base (YoY) SEP -0.20% - -
- 10/2/2008 1:30 GMT AU Trade Balance AUG -717M 200M
- 10/2/2008 2:00 GMT NZ ANZ Commodity Price SEP -3.30% - -
