ECB: One hit wonder? (page 2 of 2)

Switzerland will also be releasing the UBS consumption index. Given the dovishness of the Swiss National Bank last week, consumption should be weak.

British Pound sells off on dovish comments

After last week's stellar performance, the Sterling lost ground against the US dollar today, partially due to weak housing data, as the monthly Right Move house prices ended in the red.

Tighter lending conditions resulted in excess supply of homes in the UK, driving down prices. In addition, new research released by the Centre for Economic and Business Research indicated that slowdown in the economy could result in an excess of 300,000 employees being laid off in the near future.

Upcoming Nationwide House Price and GDP figures should provide more insight on the health of the economy. Any deviations from expectations should see the GBP sink further against the USD.

As more bad news comes rolling in, investors are becoming uncertain about a rate hike to fight inflation. BoE member Sentence said this morning that the central bank is in no rush to raise interest rates.

Oil refuses to retrace, boosting the Canadian Dollar

The Oil Summit in Jeddah this weekend has resulted in a whole lot of nothing. Saudi Arabia has simply confirmed that they will be increasing production by 200k barrels next month, but the Saudi rise was completely wiped out by further attacks on production facilities in Nigeria.

Unfortunately nothing significant came out of the Oil Summit which means that crude prices may not see any respite until the OPEC meeting in September.

This has helped drive the Canadian dollar higher on an otherwise quiet trading day.

The Australian and New Zealand dollars have given back some of their recent gains as new motor vehicle sales drop in Australia while visitor arrivals in New Zealand rebounded.

Dow clings to gains, quiet trading in Yen Crosses

The US dollar managed to gain strength against the Japanese Yen, as the pair tested the 108 level, in the intraday trading session.

Weak economic releases spelled losses for the yen, as supermarket sales figures showed a decline due to apathetic spending on household and clothing items.

In addition, BSI Large Manufacturing and BSI Large All Industry figures posted in the red, confirming suspicions that businesses continue to suffer from the recent rise in oil prices. The upcoming US FOMC meeting will determine where USD/JPY is headed.