Yen, Commodity Bloc Await a Break in Risk Trends as Fundamental Pressure Builds

While there is a lot of economy-specific event risk tomorrow; the real trend behind the currency market is risk appetite. The congestion that has paralyzed the US dollar has also thwarted trends from the yen crosses, the Australian dollar, the New Zealand dollar and any other currency or pair that has a vested interest in investor sentiment.

Measuring the boundaries of speculation is difficult; but it is safe to say the rebound in capital markets and yield expectations have surpassed fundamental reality. Recently, both the World Bank and OECD raised their forecasts for growth; but beyond a turn to positive expansion, the pace of the recovery is expected to be gradual and fragile. In the meantime, there is plenty of exposure to credit losses, ongoing bank failures or some other extraordinary market event.