By CountingPips.com
The US Dollar has continued its rapid ascent in forex markets today for the second straight day as the euro’s decline against the dollar hit a five-month lowpoint. The dollar has climbed versus the euro, British pound, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc and the Japanese yen in forex trading as of 1:33 pm EST in the 
afternoon of the US trading session. Yesterday, the dollar also rose against all of these other major currencies with the exception of the British pound which edged higher.
The EUR/USD pair has plummeted by over 150 pips today as continuing negative financial news out of Greece has helped propel the currency lower. Yesterday, the EUR/USD fell by approximately 120 pips while today’s decline has brought the pair to its lowest level since August 19th. The EUR/USD had been flucuating between the 1.4217 and 1.4575 levels since the middle of December before today’s move broke out of that trend to the low side and declined below the 200-day simple moving average.
U.S. Economic news releases out of the U.S. today showed that producer prices rose more than expected in December as consumer food costs increased and edged inflation higher on finished goods. Producer prices increased by 0.2 percent in the month of December following an increase of 1.8 percent in November. Forecasts were looking for a flat reading in prices for December. The annual rate of increase for December showed that producer prices were 4.4 percent higher than December of 2008 after November’s annual rate registered a 2.4 percent increase. Core producer prices, excluding food and energy prices, showed no change in December after a 0.5 percent increase in November.
U.S. building permits rose in the month of December while housing starts and housing completions decreased according to data released by the Commerce Department on new residential construction. Building permits statistics, used as a predictor of future construction, showed a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 653,000 permits in December which is an increase of 10.9 percent when compared to November.
Housing Starts, meanwhile, fell by 4.0 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 557,000 starts following an annual rate of 580,000 in November. Housing Completions for December fell to an annual rate of 768,000 privately-owned housing completions from a rate of 865,000 completions in November.
Fx Chart
EUR/USD 4hour Chart – The Euro falling today versus the US Dollar in Forex Trading and touching its lowest level since August 19th near the 1.4100 exchange rate. The EUR/USD broke out below last month’s lowpoint (1.4217) today to enter into oversold territory on the Relative Strength Index(RSI). The EUR/USD is down by approximately 200 pips from the beginning of 2010.
