Forex News Roundup - EuroZone, US deficits grow. Housing starts fall. Dollar retreats in Forex Trading. | CountingPips Forex Blog

September 17, 2008 - Forex Economic News

Forex News Roundup - EuroZone, US deficits grow. Housing starts fall. Dollar retreats in Forex Trading.

The Eurozone's international trade deficit grew larger in July according to a data release from Eurostat today. The eurozone's 15 countries that use the euro currency showed a trade deficit of 2.3 billion euros in July after a revised deficit of 0.2 billion euros in June. July's deficit was a marked decline from July 2007 which had shown a surplus of 5.0 billion euros. The July deficit was below market expectations as market forecasts had expected a deficit of Forex Trading News 3.0 billion euros for the month. Eurozone seasonally adjusted imports and exports increased by 5.8 percent and 3.7 percent in July, respectively. In seasonally adjusted terms, the eurozone July deficit registered 6.4 billion euros.

The trade deficit for all of the 27 nations in the European Union also increased in July. The EU27 posted a deficit of 21.5 billion euros after a deficit of 20.0 billion euros in June. July's deficit was 7.9 billion euros wider than the deficit of 13.6 billion euros in July of 2007.

US Current Account deficit grows in 2nd quarter.

Economic news released out of the U.S. showed that the current account deficit increased 4.3 percent in the 2nd quarter to $181.1 billion according to a release by the Commerce Department today. The 2nd quarter deficit follows a revised $175.6 billion deficit in the 1st quarter and surpassed market forecasts which were expecting a deficit of approximately $179.3 billion. The 2nd quarter deficit accounted for a 5.1 percent share of the GDP following the 1st quarter deficit which accounted for 5.0 percent of the GDP. Exports of goods increased in the March to June quarter to $337.3 billion while the imports of goods increased to $553.6 billion with the deficit on goods reaching $216.3 billion after registering a deficit of $211 billion in the 1st quarter. The current account measures trade of goods and services and investment flows between countries.

U.S. Housing Starts, Building Permits and Completions fall in August.

U.S. housing starts, building permits and housing completions declined in the month of August according to data released by the Commerce Department on new residential construction. Housing Starts fell by 6.2 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 895,000. August's total is down 33.1 percent compared with August of 2007. Single-family housing starts fell by 1.9 percent compared to July.

Building permits statistics, used as a predictor of future construction, showed a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 854,000 permits in August which is a decrease of 8.9 percent compared to July and a 36.4 percent drop from August of 2007. Single-family permits totaled 554,000 which was 5.1 percent less than July's permit totals.

Housing Completions for August decreased when compared to July as completions fell to an annual rate of 961,000 privately-owned housing completions. This is a decrease of 9.8 percent when compared to July's completion totals and 35.8 percent below the August 2007 level. Single family housing completions fell in August by 17.0 percent from July.

US Dollar loses ground in forex trading today.

The U.S. dollar has been losing ground against most of the major currencies in the forex market today. The euro has gained verses the dollar from today's opening rate of approximately 1.4159 dollars per euro to trading at 1.4277 in the afternoon of the US trading session before 2pm ET. The British pound has also gained from today's opening exchange rate of 1.7827 dollars per pound to trading at approximately 1.8085. The pound has gained so far for the week verses the dollar and looks to complete its second consecutive higher weekly close after closing lower verses the dollar for seven consecutive weeks. Also gaining ground verses the dollar today is the Japanese yen as the USD/JPY trading pair has been trading below 105.00 today after reaching above 106.50 yen per dollar in yesterday's trading action

GBP/USD Chart - The British pound gains vs. the US Dollar today in forex trading and looks to increase for the second straight week vs. the USD(Hourly Chart).

Today's Forex Chart

tags: interest rate, usd, forex trading, fomc, economy

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