The U.S. Markets are closed today for the Labor Day holiday. The Japanese yen rose against the Australian Dollar to 80.12, New Zealand Dollar to 62.60, and the Euro dropped to 1.2575. Although the yen rose, Japanese stocks fell.
Last week, Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve Chairman spoke at the central bankers meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Bernanke suggested that the American central bank could buy treasury bonds, and in part the Euro rallied significantly on last Friday's session. Bernanke is still not satisfied with the current U.S. economy and believes buying bonds can start to remedy this. Bernanke is also pushing to reduce the unemployment rate in the U.S. which is of “grave concern”. The U.S. is not the only nation to be struggling with unemployment, as Europe unemployment rose to 11.3% this past month.
Gold is continuing to rise, and rose 70% in its value as the Federal Reserve continues to put money into the economy. Eighteen commodities tracked by S&P increased in August, led by a 13% gain in silver, the largest high since January of this year.