Forex - German producer prices decline in August. Euro looks to finish week higher vs. USD. | CountingPips Forex Blog

September 19, 2008 - Forex Economic News

Forex - German producer prices decline in August. Euro looks to finish week higher vs. USD.

German inflation declined in August according to data released today by the German Federal Statistical Office. The German producer price index decreased by 0.6 percent in August following a jump by 2.0 percent in July signaling that inflation is falling in the eurozone's largest economy as oil prices retreat from July's record levels. The annual rate of producer inflation registered an increase of 8.1 percent over August 2007 following July's annual Euro Forex Trading increase of 8.9 percent. The monthly and annual inflation rates were below market forecasts that were expecting a monthly decrease of 0.5 percent and an annual rise of 8.3 percent in August.

Also released out of Europe today were news on employment wages in France and industrial production in Italy. French wages increased by 0.9 percent in the 2nd quarter according to a release by INSEE. The 2nd quarter increase follows the 1st quarter increase of 1.1 percent and equaled market forecasts at 0.9 percent. Italian industrial orders rose by a seasonally adjusted 2.6 percent in July following a revised increase of 0.4 percent in June and surpassed economic forecasts expecting a 0.2 percent decrease in orders for July. On an annual basis, July's industrial orders increased by a nonseasonally adjusted 5.5 percent over the July 2007 level following June's annual decline of 7.8 percent. Industrial sales out of Italy for July declined by a seasonally adjusted 2.5 percent after increasing by a revised 3.2 percent in June. Economic forecasts expected a rise of 0.2 percent for the month. Despite the monthly decline, this brings Italy's industrial sales to an annual increase of 4.7 percent over July 2007 following an annual increase of 3.8 percent in June.

Forex Trading - Euro looks to finish week higher vs. USD.

The European euro is on its way to closing out the week higher verses the U.S. dollar after three consecutive weeks of losing ground. The EUR/USD pair started the week at approximately 1.4228 dollars per euro and has increased to trading at 1.4400 in the U.S. afternoon on Friday. The euro is also looking to close the week higher verses the Japanese yen at 154.55 yen per euro while looking to lose ground for week against the Canadian dollar, Swiss franc and against the British pound for the second straight week.

The U.S. dollar has been under considerable pressure in the forex markets as this week has been full of economic turmoil with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America and the government bailout of the insurance giant AIG. The dollar is on its way to declines verses all the major currencies in the forex markets this week as the economic woes of Wall Street have dampened the dollar's recent advances of the past few months. The British pound is on its way to a second weekly gain verses the USD and notably has gone from 1.7660 dollars per pound to 1.8370 in those two weeks at the time of writing. Elsewhere, the Australian dollar, euro, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc, New Zealand dollar and Japanese yen are all on track to close the week higher verses the USD.

Next week, watch for these important economic releases:

Canadian retail sales - Mon. 12:30 GMT
Eurozone Current Account - Wed. 8:00 GMT
US Durable Goods - Thurs. 12:30 GMT
NZD GDP - Thurs. 22:45 GMT
France GDP - Fri. 6:45 GMT
US GDP - Fri. 12:30 GMT

EUR/USD Chart - The Euro gains vs. the dollar today in forex trading and looks to gain finish the week higher after three consecutive losing weeks vs. USD(Hourly Chart).

Today's Forex Chart

tags: german inflation, ppi, eurozone, euro, forex rates, usd

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