Oomph! The dollar took a few hits from its major counterparts yesterday despite the absence of economic reports in the U.S. Except for USD/JPY’s 12-pip gain at 80.63, the cheddar lost 141 pips to the euro at 1.4034 and 122 pips to the franc at .9796.
Hmm, was it because traders were buckling up ahead of today’s major economic news? Aside from the big Congressional elections yesterday, the U.S.Fed members also began their 2-day meeting over the much-awaited quantitative easing program.
Employment reports will also join the parade of big news today, starting with the Challenger job cuts report at 11:30 pm GMT, followed by the ADP non-farm employment report at 12:15 pm GMT. The ADP report is expected to show an increase of 21,000 workers after dropping by 39,000 last September.
The ISM non-manufacturing PMIat 2:00 pm GMT might also rock the charts, especially if it prints higher than the expected 53.5 index figure for October. Next, the monthly factory orders at 2:00 pm GMT will be released, and a number higher than the estimated 1.6% gain might be able to bring some pip-lovin’ back to the scrilla.
But of course, all the spotlights are turned to the Fed members today as they release their FOMC statement at 6:15 pm GMT. Market junkies have been placing their bets on the size of the Fed’s quantitative easing program, and word on the forex streets is that the dollar will be attracting them currency bears if the Fed buys more than 500 billion USD worth of assets.
Stick around for these game-changers!