U.S. Dollar Steadies in Asian Trading Ahead of U.S. Economic Reports

By: Barbara Zigah
The U.S. Dollar continued to hold steady in Tokyo trading after seeing sharp gains in yesterday’s trading, gains which resulted from an increase in Treasury yields yesterday to the highest level over the past 2-months, all of which helped to prop up the U.S. currency. A record high debt sale by the U.S. government is giving investors’ reason to believe that the Federal Reserve Bank may reverse its current loose monetary policy. As reported at 12:14 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the U.S. Dollar Index traded at 76.038 .DXY, holding steady in the day’s trading; last week, it traded at one point at 74.94 .DXY, a new 14-month trough.

In individual trading, the U.S. Dollar also saw some gains. Versus the Japanese Yen, the greenback traded at 92.33 Yen at one point in the day, the highest trade of the month, before retreating to 92.10 Yen. Only last month, the U.S. Dollar bottomed out at 88.01 Yen, an 8-month low.

Ahead of the release later today and Thursday of several economic reports from the U.S., investors continue to exercise caution. October’s consumer confidence index, as well as the S&P/Case-Shiller Index which measures housing prices, are expected to be released at 9:00 a.m. (EST). On Thursday, the U.S. GDP data will be released, with analysts and economists expecting to see an expansion of 3.3% over the 3rd quarter of 2009.
Barbara Zigah

After working on Wall Street, Barb began her second career as a freelance writer at Daily Forex, where the CEO recognized fresh, untapped potential and was willing to give her a try. She’s never looked back. Since then, she’s worked steadily as a freelance writer and editor in the financial services and Forex-related industry.