NEWS / Foreign Exchange

The yen is stronger versus most currencies this morning

The dollar, which fell to a 25-year low against sterling last week and flirted with its all all-time low vis-? -vis the euro, has started this week on firmer footing. However, with no major data releases printing this morning in Europe, there does not appear to be an obvious catalyst to explain the dollar's modest gains against major European currencies. That said, the greenback has dropped a significant amount over the past few weeks, so some retracement is to be expected. The yen is stronger versus most currencies this morning, benefiting in part from the announcement from Standard & Poors that it was raising the country's debt rating by one notch.

After last week's barrage of U.S. economic data, the docket is relatively light this week. There are no major releases scheduled today, but tomorrow sees the Conference Board's index of consumer confidence and existing home sales data for March. New home sales data print on Wednesday. At this point, the downturn in the nation's housing market is well known, so investors likely won't be fazed much if the data are rather weak. Perhaps more importantly, the data on durable goods orders in March, which also print on Wednesday, will shed some light on the near-term outlook for capital spending. The durable goods numbers have been a bit weak over the past few months, so the consensus forecast is anticipating a bounce back in the March data. Weaker-than-expected numbers could raise some concerns about the outlook for the U.S. economy, which could lead to renewed dollar selling. The week concludes with U.S. real GDP data for the first quarter. The most important foreign economic highlight this week is the Ifo index of German business sentiment, which prints on Wednesday morning.