NEWS / European Community

Dollar holds onto yesterday's gains, trader attention turns to IFO and beige book

July 26th - Yesterday??™s better than expected US consumer confidence reading underlined the fact that traders remain very aware of the data when deciding where to take currencies, largely supported by a belief that numbers like this certainly suggest there??™s scope for at least one more rate hike out of the Fed before a more dovish stance can prevail. Equally however, the Fed??™s beige book is due for release later in the session and could provide further momentum, with any slowdown here equally having the potential to see the dollar give back this latest run of gains. The last few days have been relatively quiet for the Eurozone with little key economic data having been released but today??™s German ifo survey may also offer some notable direction for the common currency. Next week??™s meeting of the ECB to discuss interest rate policy has taken on increased meaning with the news that it will be an in-person event rather than the more typical August teleconference, so any data that may direct whether President Trichet will add another quarter point could start to offer some meaningful direction for the Euro too??¦

Wayne Roworth and Enis Mehmet