By CountingPips.com
The US Dollar has been mixed in forex trading today against most of the major currencies on a very light news day. The dollar has been losing ground to the euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian dollar and the Swiss franc while gaining ground today versus the Canadian dollar. Against the New Zealand dollar, the USD has been virtually
The US stock markets, meanwhile, had a winning session today with the Dow Jones gaining by approximately 44 points, the Nasdaq increasing approximately 21 points and the S&P 500 up by just about 6 points. Oil traded slightly higher to $81.29 while gold lost $8.10 to level at $1,099.30 per ounce.
Economic news released in the Asian session today showed that Australian motor vehicles sales fell by 1.9 percent in February while on an annual basis vehicle sales increased 17.1 percent higher than the February 2009 level. This data follows a decline by 3.5 percent in January and an annual decline of 15.5 percent from January 2009.
The only notable news release out of the U.S. today was the Chicago Fed National Activity Index. The results showed that the measure of national economic activity declined in February to a -0.64 score following a revised -0.04 score in January, according to the Chicago Federal Reserve. The three-month moving average decreased to a -0.39 score following the -0.13 three-month moving average in January. Despite the decline, the report said that the three month moving average is still “higher than at any point since December 2007.” The Chicago Fed Index measures the national economy by calculating a weighted average of 85 indicators of national economic activity. A score above zero is considered above-average growth, below zero is below-average growth and at zero is considered growth at the historical trend.
EUR/USD Hourly Chart – Today, the Euro has turned around last week’s decline versus the dollar after risk aversion brought the EUR/USD back to the 1.3500 area on Friday. The EUR/USD pair has increased by about 30+ pips today and trades right at the 50-hour moving average (Purple). Overall, the key driver of the Euro still looks to be the Greece debt situation. Uncertainty and disagreement over the possible bailout of Greece will continue to press on the common currency heading into the European Union leaders summit that takes place on March 25th and 26th in Brussels. Although, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that the summit won’t lead to a decision on Greece’s situation, others, including Greece, have pointed to the summit as the time to provide a unified solution.
