By CountingPips.com
The U.S. Dollar has been mixed in the forex markets on a day without major news releases while the U.S. stock markets have been mostly negative. The dollar has advanced versus the euro, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar and the Australian dollar while trading virtually unchanged against the British pound, Swiss franc and the New Zealand dollar, according to currency data from Oanda at 1:34 pm EST. Earlier today, the dollar jumped out to quick gains in risk averse trading but 
has given back some ground to the other major currencies as the day has progressed.
The U.S. stock markets, meanwhile, are having a down session today with the Dow falling over 5 points, the Nasdaq decreasing by over 20 points and the S&P 500 dropping by almost 5 points at time of writing. Oil has edged lower by $1.56 to $81.68 per barrel while gold has been declined by $1.10 to the $1,135.20 per ounce level.
Economic news today showed that the U.S. Leading Indicators Index published by the Conference Board increased for the twelveth straight month in March and surpassed market forecasts. The Leading Indicator Index, which measures future economic activity, rose by 1.4 percent in March following a 0.4 percent gain in February and a 0.6 percent rise in January. February’s advance beat the market forecasts which were predicting the gain of 1.1 percent for the month.
The coincident index, which is viewed as a measure of the current economic activity, increased by 0.1 percent in March, matching February’s rise, while the lagging index rose by 0.2 percent in March after gaining by 0.1 percent in February.
An economist at the Conference Board, Ken Goldstein commented in the report saying, “The indicators point to a slow recovery that should continue over the next few months. The leading, coincident and lagging series are rising. Strength of demand remains the big question going forward. Improvement in employment and income will be the key factors in whether consumers push the recovery on a stronger path.”
Important news still to come today is the consumer price index release out of New Zealand for the first quarter. Forecasts are expecting a 0.6 percent quarterly rise and a 2.3 percent year-over-year gain. The fourth quarter of 2009 cpi registered -0.2 while on an annual basis the cpi rose by 2.0 percent.
