US Dollar Down, Euro Pushes Higher

Added: January 21, 2011

US dollar falls on higher euro zone data. Euro posts 1.6 percent gain.

During the Friday currency trading session, currency traders took to the euro and boosted the currency as a result. The US dollar fell during the trading session against most major currencies during the session. The euro took back its claim to highs and moved to eight week highs during the session against the US dollar. This comes in mostly as the positive data out of Germany continues to stream in.

US Dollar

The US dollar index showed the US dollar moved from 78.846 as of the end of the trading session on Thursday to 78.114 by the end of the Friday trading session in North America.

Euro

The euro moved from US $1.3469 at the end of the Thursday trading session to US $1.3623 by the end of the Friday trading session. That was about a one percent gain for the euro against the US dollar. During the session, the euro managed to improve as high as US $1.3635. That is the highest amount the dollar has been at since November. The euro has managed to gain 1.3 percent for the week ending Friday.

Part of the reason currency investors turned to the euro during the day was more positive data out of Germany. According to one organization, the business climate index for Germany rose to 110.3 in the month of January from 109.8 in December. This is a favorable increase and shows that Europe's largest economy is moving in the right direction financially and economically. The growth in Germany is significantly the opposite of what is happening in other euro zone countries, including in Greece and Ireland, two of the biggest concerns in the euro zone.

Yen

The Japanese yen moved from Y 82.99 at the end of the Thursday trading session to Y 82.69 at the end of the North American trading session on Friday.

UK Pound

Also notable during the session was that the UK pound also increased against the US dollar. It moved up from US $1.5910 as of the end of trading in North America on Thursday to US $1.6014 by the end of the session on Friday.

Information out of the UK was not as promising, noting that retail sales in the country fell by 0.8 percent in the month of December. Experts had predicted that the country would see a 0.4 percent decline instead. The drop is likely due to poor weather conditions, many believe.

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Inflation the Next Big Problem

Posted by Steve Barnes at Feb 01, 2011 07:17 PM

Inflation is going to be the next really big problem. The riots in Egypt are already forcing oil prices up. The price of cotton has doubled in the last year forcing clothing prices up. Now food prices are rising and economists are saying that will be the factor that spurs more global unrest. All of this is on a global basis too so there isn’t a single country right now that can claim to be exempt. The oil prices rising so rapidly are going to accelerate the pace of inflation too. It’s going to come down to when is it the right time to raise interest rates? The EU and Australia are saying they can keep a damper on inflation without raising interest rates. On the other hand, they don’t like to talk about tax increases.