US Dollar rises in forex trading, hits one month high vs. euro. | CountingPips Forex & Currency Trading Blog

July 29, 2008 - Forex Economic News

US Dollar rises in forex trading, hits one month high vs. Euro.

The U.S. dollar rose in forex trading today as oil prices fell below $121 and a consumer confidence survey showed better than expected results. The dollar hit its highest exchange rate against the euro in over a month despite a record drop in the Case-Shiller Housing Price Index and inflation data out of Europe showing prices staying at high levels.

Forex Market News The dollar has also gained across the board against the other major currencies today with increases verses the Australian dollar, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc, British pound and the New Zealand dollar.

Crude oil fell below $121 for the first time since May and the dollar traded below the 1.5600 dollars per euro level for the first time since June 25th. A Conference Board consumer confidence survey released today helped provide support to the dollar as the survey edged up compared to last month with an increase from 51.0 in June to 51.9 in July. The present situation part of the survey held steady from last month while the expectations index showed improvement in July. Market forecasts were expecting the survey to decline this month.

The S&P/Case Shiller Home Price Index was also released today and showed that home prices in the U.S. continued to decline as the indexes fell by new record amounts in May. The report showed that the 10-city composite index fell by a new record annual rate of 16.9 percent in May while the 20-city composite also fell a new record annual rate of 15.8 percent when compared to May 2007. Las Vegas and Miami once again showed the biggest declines in home prices nationally as they registered -2.9 and -3.6 percent drops in May, respectively. Charlotte and Dallas, despite negative year-over-year rates, have registered positive growth rates for three months in a row. The S & P’s/Case-Shiller Index measures sales prices of existing single-family homes nationally and tracks 10-city and 20-city composite home price measurements.

Economic news out of Europe today showed that inflation failed to slow down as France released producer prices and Germany released consumer prices. France producer prices, in a report by Insee, showed a gain of 0.7 percent in June following up May's increase of 1.3 percent. France's producer prices have gained 7.3 percent from last year, up from May's annual rate of 6.7 percent. Germany consumer prices, released by the German Federal Statistics Office, showed a gain of 0.6 percent in July verses a gain of 0.4 percent in June. Germany's consumer prices have gained 3.4 percent on an annual basis in July which equaled the annual rate of June.

Tomorrow has a full economic calender with German retail sales, Australia building approvals and the U.S. ADP employment change highlighting the schedule.

EUR/USD Chart - The euro falling verses the dollar in forex trading today, hourly chart.

EUR/USD falling today in forex trading.

tags: currency trading, usd, consumer confidence, oil, forex market, euro

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