It’s done. S&P did what many had only thought they would do. Stripping the US of it’s AAA rating, citing a negative outlook, will provide another hit to an already fragile business and consumer confidence landscape. The US’s fiscal path and its broken political system are to blame. The political scene is ‘so caustic that lawmakers are unable to make the tough choices needed to correct the debt-to-GDP rise’.

The Euro, the official currency of the European Union, is one of the most widely traded currencies in the world, if only for the fact that Europe is one of the most active grounds for business. Only the U.S. dollar, the British pound, and the Japanese yen see anywhere near the same amount of trading activity in the Forex market. If you wish to trade the Euro, the factors that you will be looking at will be slightly different and more complex than the other three currencies.

Fitch Rating said today that a “re-profiling” of Greek debt where investors willingly allow Greece to delay payment on maturing securities would be seen as a default by the ratings agency. This action would further reduce Greece’s credit rating as a result.

Yuan will appreciate if China stops buying Treasuries

For five months, China reduced the amount it bought in U.S. Treasuries. However, a report for April shows that China increased its Treasury buying. Of course, some contend that China had no choice, considering the trade surplus the country has with the U.S.

Statistics Canada announced today that Canada’s unemployment rate fell to a two-year low in May of 7.4 percent. All together, 22,300 jobs were created in May following April’s gain of 58,000 new positrons.

While the news is certainly positive, it is noteworthy that the number of self-employed positions were up sharply suggesting that many unemployed Canadians launched their own businesses in recent months.

Source: CBC News

Despite inflation climbing to 4.5 percent in April from 4 percent the month before, the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has voted to leave the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.5 percent. This is the 27th straight month that rates have been held steady,

As regular readers will know, I am a big fan of ProRealTime charts because you can gain access to the Supertrend indicator and a few other indicators that are not commonly found elsewhere such as the Smoothed Repulse indicator, for instance. (...)

Greenback higher in currency trading

The U.S. dollar is surging at the end of the U.S. session today, thanks to some disconcerting news coming out. Economic news has investors spooked, and abandoning equities. That is helping the U.S. dollar, as investors head toward safe havens.

Is this false hope? Germany softening its stance on restructuring demand is helping the EUR. While the market focuses its attention on the Germans, its the Greek’s ability to do or not do that we should be honing in on.

No demand of an early rescheduling of Greek bonds is certainly good news, paving the way for the Euro-zone to put together another rescue package to aid Greece in meeting its repayment objections over the next few months. However, this does not mean that an eventual restructuring of their debt will not go ahead.

What's next for the greenback in currency trading?

Today, the U.S. dollar is a little bit higher in currency trading on the FX market. The euro opened a little higher today, but that was quickly overcome as concerns about Greek debt resurfaced, and due to light trading in general.