Dollar Makes Big Gains Following FED Statement

The USD got another boost Wednesday evening after the Federal Reserve Bank (FED) issued a statement saying that there are definite signs that the American economy is on its way to recovery. While the FED stopped short of raising record low interest rates, the positive statement was enough to boost the Dollar against both the EUR and Yen.

Going into trading today, Dollar levels will most likely be effected by this weeks U.S. unemployment claims, set to be released at 13:30 GMT. With most analysts predicting a number around 465K, the news should be good for the greenback, as it would be relatively unchanged from last week's figure. That being said, if the figure unexpectedly jumps and lands at around the 500K level, investors may lose faith in the pace of the American recovery. This may lead to a decline in the USD, and would result in positive gains for the EUR.

Dollar Falls on Dubai Bailout

The dollar slipped slightly against most of its major counterparts on Monday after Dubai's announcement it had received help from Abu Dhabi to repay its debts. This bolstered risk appetite and eroded some of the U.S. currency's safe-haven appeal. By yesterday's close, the USD fell against the EUR, pushing the oft- traded currency pair to 1.4647. The dollar experience similar behavior against the GBP and closed at 1.6302.

The currency market's bent to sell dollars on improved risk appetite, contrasted with last week when strong U.S. economic data boosted risk sentiment to the benefit of stocks and the dollar, and have bolstered the view that the Fed may have to act sooner than expected to tighten monetary policy. Investors were also watching to see whether a year-long trend in which the dollar weakens on strong U.S. data was starting to break down.

Moreover, markets await more details from the Federal Reserve, which wraps up its last policy meeting of the year on Wednesday. Investors expect the central bank to keep its benchmark interest rate at a historic low level of near zero for the time being, but there is some concern that rates could rise sooner than previously thought as the economy improves. Higher interest rates or the expectation of higher interest rates in the near future can boost a currency as investors transfer their funds to higher yielding currencies.

Pound Down on Weaker than EU Outlook

The pound started the week down versus the euro and the U.S. dollar as sentiment towards other wealthy nations in the world remain more positive than the U.K.’s economic perspectives, forcing investors to abandon pound priced assets to inject capital in more attractive currencies backed by fast recovering nations.

After a Moody’s report featuring world’s wealthiest nations in which the U.K. was rated as ”resilient” against better rating of its European neighbors, France and Germany, considered “resistant”, the pound tumbled further versus the euro, and also went down versus the greenback as the interest rate outlook in the U.S. changed, with speculations suggesting hikes for the mid-term future, forming a winning pattern on the dollar charts versus most of the 16 main traded currencies. Despite the U.K.’s evidences of economic recovery, the process has been slower than the resilience perceived overseas, in emergent countries and commodity exporter nations like Canada or Australia, whose currencies have been gaining consistently versus the pound in 2009.

The outlook for the pound remains negative as investors opt for higher-yielding options in risk fueled sessions, and prefer to take safer bets in moments of strong risk aversion, leaving almost no appeal for pound-priced assets, which are likely to remain less attractive than average at least until the end of the year.

GBP/USD traded at 1.6335 as of 10:15 GMT from a previous rate of 1.6470 in the intraday. EUR/GBP traded at 0.9092 from a previous rate of 0.9042.

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