USD Retreats

The greenback fell against the majors at the start of the week, tumbling just shy of the 1.29-level against the euro and dropping toward 1.5176 versus the sterling. The US equity market extended Friday’s gains with the Dow Jones up by over 3.6% and the Nasdaq advancing by more than 4% by afternoon trading amid a bailout plan to inject $20 billion into Citigroup and guarantee over $300 billion in toxic assets.

The housing market continues to struggle with existing home sales in October posting a 3.1% decline to 4.98 million units, down from 5.18 million units a month earlier. Several key reports are due out on Tuesday including Q3 preliminary GDP, Q3 PCE, September Case-Shiller home prices, November consumer confidence, and the Richmond Fed survey. The US economy is estimated to have contracted by 0.5% in Q3 while the Conference Board’s consumer confidence survey is estimated to slip to 37.9.


Euro Rallies, Shrugs off Dismal Data
Economic conditions in the Eurozone remain bleak with data from Germany revealing further deterioration. Germany’s October Ifo sentiment survey plunged by more than expected to its lowest level in nearly 16-years at 85.8 versus calls for a slide to 88.7 from 90.2 a month earlier. The expectations component tumbled to 77.6 from 81.4 while the current conditions index fell to 94.8 from 99.9 a month earlier. The drop in the Ifo sentiment survey was its sixth consecutive monthly decline and underscores the dour outlook for the Eurozone’s largest economy. Ifo President Sinn said, “The economic downturn has hardened and will now also affect the labor market”. With Germany’s economy already in recession, the latest data raises fears of a deep and prolonged recession and will likely prompt the ECB to ease rates aggressively at the coming meetings.