Asia Session

After a strong run overnight in NY, the Dollar lost its grip in Asia, giving back ground to all but the Yen which faced perils of its own as stocks posted a second day of gains and traders looked to get back into riskier assets. With the FOMC offering nothing new but the usual statement that, ''the economy is weak but we are seeing signs of improvement...'' , traders took hints from the Swiss National Bank intervening in its currency by buying Dollars and Euros and came along for the almost 3% gains in USD/CHF. Today, the Greenback extended gains against the Yen, ending the ride that began in the NY morning at about 95.10 close to the current 96.30 levels. The Yen crosses all pushed higher as well, most notably the EUR/JPY moving over a big figure to just under 134.50. Those gains may not end there as Asian equities looked to have a second up day in a row. Add to this the fact that traders were denied any clear cut direction from the Fed, thus jumping back into the risk trades with the Nikkei up almost 3% and US stock futures looking strong by days end.

EUR/USD was posting lows just under 1.3890 late in the NY day, but from there slowly but surely clawed its way to the 1.3975 area by late in the day. The British Pound made similar moves, but in this case the 65 or so pip move started out from 1.63670. The Dollar slid just like the Yen against the Aussie and Kiwi Dollars as growth projections for both China and Australia were adjusted more favorably, thus boosting the big commodity exporters. Back in Europe, the buck was held in a less than 40 pip range in the Swiss Dollar after a 375 pip intervention inspired move that took place over the past 24 hours.

The next round of data that will be focused on comes in tomorrow in the US with quarterly GDP, weekly employment, and Fed Chairman Bernanke testifying about the Bank of America / Merrill Lynch marriage that has come under some scrutiny as of late.

Upcoming Economic Data Releases (London Session) prior expected