U.S. Consumer Spending flat in August. Dollar mixed in Forex Trading on volatile financial market day. | CountingPips Forex Blog

September 29, 2008 - Forex Economic News

U.S. Consumer Spending flat in August. Dollar mixed in Forex Trading on volatile financial market day.

U.S. consumer spending was virtually unchanged in the month of August according to a new data release by the U.S. Commerce Department today. Consumer spending, which makes up two thirds or more of the U.S. economy, increased by less than 0.1 percent in August following a revised 0.1 percent rise in July. Market forecasts were expecting spending to increase by 0.2 percent in August. Core Personal Consumption Expenditure, a gauge of US Forex Trading inflation excluding food and energy, increased by 0.2 percent in August following a rise of 0.3 percent in July and July. On an annual basis, the core pce has increased by 2.6 percent through August and marked the largest annual increase since 1995. Market forecasts had expected that the monthly core pce would register a rise of 0.2 percent and the annual rate would increase by 2.4 percent.

Personal income, released in the same report, showed a better than expected gain in August. Personal income rose by 0.5 percent in August following a revised 0.6 percent decline in the month of July and beating market forecasts expecting a rise of 0.2 percent.

Forex - Dollar gains verses most majors on volatile financial market day.

The U.S. dollar gained against most of the other major currencies on a day of volatile financial market moves as the U.S. House of Representatives rejected the $700 billion buyout package. The $700 billion bailout package is aimed to help unwind the credit crisis in the U.S. banking system but failed to pass the House by a 228 to 205 vote count. The rejection of the package plunged the Dow Jones industrials 777 points, the Nasdaq almost 200 points and crude oil fell more than $10 a barrel while gold and treasury bills got boosts today.

The dollar fared much better than the stock market as American currency gained against the European euro, British pound sterling, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar while falling against the Japanese yen and Swiss franc.

EUR/USD

The euro fell verses the dollar today as this pair opened at approximately 1.4501 dollars per euro and has declined to 1.4441 near the end of the U.S. trading session.

GBP/USD

The British pound has declined against the dollar to trading at 1.8088 dollars per pound today after opening today's trading at 1.8283.

USD/JPY

The dollar has fallen against the yen in trading today at 104.35 yen per dollar after opening verses the Japanese currency today at approximately the 106.44 level.

USD/CAD

The U.S. dollar has gained ground against the Canadian loonie as the USD/CAD pair has gained from today's 1.0362 open to advancing to 1.0450 loonie per usd.

USD/CHF

The dollar is also losing ground today against the Swiss franc as this pair trades at approximately 1.0892 today and down from the 1.0956 opening.

AUD/USD

The Australian dollar has lost ground today verses the dollar as this currency pair trades around the 0.8027 after dropping more than 200 pips today from the 0.8294 level.

NZD/USD

The New Zealand kiwi has also lost ground today verses the USD as the pair is trading around 0.6716 after opening at 0.6856.

EUR/USD Chart - The euro falling vs. the U.S. dollar on a volatile day for the financial markets as the House of Representatives failed to pass a banking bailout plan(Daily Chart).

Today's Forex Chart

tags: consumer spending, credit crisis, banking crisis, forex market

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