The US dollar continued to trade bearish against its main currency rivals yesterday, as worse than predicted economic indicators renewed suspicions that the Fed will soon begin a stimulus program to boost the greenback. Following the disappointing news, the USD/CHF pair fell to its lowest level since March of 2008. Today, news from both Switzerland and the US may give the dollar a chance to recoup some of its earlier losses.
Here is a roundup of the day’s main news events:
09:30 GMT: CHF KOF Economic Barometer
The KOF Economic Barometer is a monthly indicator designed to predict the direction the Swiss economy will take over the next six months. It is widely considered to be a highly significant economic release, and consistently leads to volatility among CHF pairs.
This month, analysts are forecasting a slightly lower figure from last month’s release. Should the barometer come in around its predicted level 2.12, the greenback may be able to regain some of the substantial losses it took against the franc yesterday.
14:30 GMT: USD Crude Oil Inventories
After seeing some fairly significant gains last week, crude prices have fluctuated over the past few days. Today’s US inventory figure may help oil prices move up again. Most analysts are forecasting a decrease in US stockpiles from last week, which if true, means that demand is up. Typically higher demand equals higher prices. Should the report come in at its predicted level of around -0.4M, traders may want to enter into some long positions with oil.
