Market News

In Asian trading today, the common currency slipped to a 3-week low against the U.S. Dollar, taking along with it other commodity-linked currencies as renewed worries over the Eurozone’s debt problems and a much weaker than expected U.S. labor data take its toll on risk appetite.

The Euro took a large hit yesterday following several reports which showed that sentiment among the manufacturing sectors embedded throughout the Eurozone declined last month, suggesting to investors that global growth is slowing more than expected.

The Japanese Yen tumbled broadly against the U.S. Dollar, assuaging investors’ fears that the Bank of Japan might have to consider yet another intervention into the currency’s rise.

Lackluster demand at the Italian bond auction – the largest in the Eurozone – brought investor worries to the fore, with concerns that debt problems in the Eurozone’s 3rd largest economy may be escalating.

The safe haven Swiss Franc has been under broad sell pressure as risk appetite resumes following the Ben Bernanke speech of last week, as well as an improving outlook for the U.S. economy.

Although the ECM has restrained Italy’s borrowing costs by purchasing its debt, the country will still try to raise money in the bond market this week. This move will be a strong test as to whether the ECB has the buying power to keep yields stable.

The U.S. Dollar slipped from a 2-week peak versus the Japanese Yen in Asian trading today, but is expected to more than recoup those losses on speculation that the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank will reaffirm that no further easing is likely in the near term.

The price of gold fell for the third straight day today in Asian trading, as the CME Group raised futures margins for the second time this month. COMEX futures fell over $100 on Wednesday, August 24th, signaling the biggest one-day drop since 1980.

The U.S. Dollar firmed against the majors in Asian trading today and traders expect that it could see some additional gains ahead of the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole symposium.

The U.S. Dollar slipped against the Japanese Yen after the government of Japan announced a $100 billion line of credit facility intended to help Japanese business cope with the detrimental effects of a too strong Japanese Yen.

The Euro edged up against the U.S. Dollar in Asian trading today, but analysts believe that it could come under renewed pressure if the soon to be released Eurozone PMI data falls short of analysts expectations.

Market attention focuses on the Asian market today with investors speculating that the Bank of Japan could today intervene in the Japanese Yen’s rise. Given that, trading in the Yen was somewhat subdued with investors treading cautiously, nervous about holding the currency for too long.

With equity markets falling globally, investors have sought U.S. Treasuries and the safe haven assets; gold, the Swiss Franc and the Japanese Yen, and to some extent the U.S. Dollar, have all been pushed higher.

A day after the Swiss National Bank intervened in their currency’s rise and the Swiss Franc is continuing to fall lower against the U.S. Dollar and the common currency Euro in Asian trading largely, however, a factor of investors’ speculation that the SNB will dump more liquidity into the forex forwards market.

Following yesterday’s Sarkozy/Merkel summit which failed to yield any promise of the creation of a Eurozone bond scheme, the Euro sank against the U.S. Dollar. Also hurting the common currency was unexpectedly weak German GDP data.