After the fireworks we witnessed in the FX markets on Friday it is safe to say that the start of the week in Asia was anything but exciting, with the US Dollar giving back some of the real estate it gained last week.
With Australia out on Holiday and many traders still trying to plot their next move, the Dollar quietly gave back a little of what it made up on Fridays gigantic moves. If you happened to miss it, Friday's US unemployment data showed less than expected losses, thus bringing many to believe that a Fed rate hike could be in the cards by the year's end. This makes it seem likely that many traders will have a keen interest in a slew of US treasury auctions due this week. This rate hike thinking caused traders to buy up the greenback aggressively, forcing many of those who were short dollars out of their positions. Today, the EUR/USD bounced from lows near 1.3926 and crawled its way back up above 1.4000 a few times, but ultimately looked to close out the Asian trade day closer to 1.3960. As well, USD/JPY opened near 98.60 and looks to end the day about 20 pips lighter. Bucking the trend was the Pound, which amidst all the political morass in Great Britain, continued its slide from Friday, dropping to a 1.59220 low after posting a high just under 80. Elsewhere, risk appetite was back with Asian stocks higher, thus giving the commodity currencies down under a boost. AUD/USD gained about 50 pips from the 0.7924ish low and the NZD/USD did about the same from a 0.6233ish low.
Upcoming Economic Data Releases (London Session) prior expected
| 6/8/2009 | 5:45 | SZ | Unemployment Rate | MAY | 3.50% | 3.50% |
| 6/8/2009 | 5:45 | SZ | Unemployment Rate (sa) | MAY | 3.40% | 3.60% |
| 6/8/2009 | 8:30 | EC | Sentix Investor Confidence | JUN | -34.3 | -31 |
| 6/8/2009 | 10:00 | GE | Factory Orders MoM (sa) | APR | 3.30% | 0.00% |
| 6/8/2009 | 10:00 | GE | Factory Orders YoY (nsa) | APR | -26.70% | -33.00% |
