Dollar Little Moved, S&P 500 Extends 8 Day Rally Ahead of Bernanke
Euro Refuses to Cave Despite EFSF Downgrade, Lingering Portuguese Fears
British Pound: CPI Expected to Return to 3.0% – What Will the BoE Do?
Australia Dollar Ignores Chinese 2Q GDP but Rallies on RBA Minutes
New Zealand Dollar Response to 13-Year CPI Reading Restrained
Japanese Yen Slides as Carry Benefits Shrinking Volatility Concerns
Gold Virtually Unchanged for Second Trading Day

Dollar Little Moved, S&P 500 Extends 8 Day Rally Ahead of Bernanke
The dollar is facing down serious breakout potential, but the will for a serious breakout and trend development simply isn’t there. With the Dow Jones FXCM Dollar Index (ticker = USDollar) stationed once again just below its confluence of series-long Fibs and trendline around 10,900 and EURUSD having worked its way into a ‘terminal’ wedge formation, it would seem that a trend-defining move is imminent. Yet, fundamentals can actually work to curb the development of any meaningful breakout attempt within the next 24 hours. As tantalizing as technical setups are in the short-term, it is follow through that provides FX market participants with trades. However, jumping into a trade ahead of what is likely to be very heavy fundamental seas is seen by most as unnecessarily risky. The problem with taking a trade on something like the upcoming US CPI, TIC capital flows or Goldman Sachs earnings for example is that Wednesday’s Bernanke testimony carries far more weight.

Euro Refuses to Cave Despite EFSF Downgrade, Lingering Portuguese Fears
Friday ended on negative headlines for the Euro, and Monday didn’t open to much better. Through the close last week, rating agency Fitch announced it had relieved France of its coveted ‘triple A’ status – brining the measure for the Eurozone’s second largest economy down the same level as Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s. Given the importance of this large economy in the backing of shared, regional assets; the EFSF received a downgrade by the same group Monday to ‘AA+’. There was a time when downgrades were heavy market movers for the euro, but that theme still seems to be behind us. For the rescue programs the ESM (European Stability Mechanism) is the more important program. Yet, speculation that that backup can be hit with a cut – and thereby higher yields – or even Germany suffering the same is a risk that we shouldn’t discount. For tangible risk, we must keep an eye on Portugal and Greece particularly. The former’s government set a deadline of Sunday to agree to austerity measures internally, and the Bank of Portugal is due to release their quarterly economic update today.

British Pound: CPI Expected to Return to 3.0% – What Will the BoE Do?
There is sense of hope amongst dovish rate watchers that new Bank of England (BoE) Governor Mark Carney will ramp up stimulus in the not-too-distant future. That could be somewhat difficult if the consensus forecast for the upcoming June CPI figures prove accurate. According to Bloomberg’s consensus of economists’ expectations, the year-over-year clip of price growth – central banks’ preferred time frame – is expected to hit 3.0 percent following the previous 2.7 percent clip. More than just representing the fastest pace of inflation in 14 months, that is considered the central bank’s traditional tolerance level. It is true that Chancellor of the Exchequer issued a remit that allowed the BoE to ignore inflation on a temporary basis to focus on growth, but we have yet to see such bold action. In other news, sterling traders should watch the headlines for comments that come out of BoE member Fisher’s and DMO CEO Stheeman’s testimony on QE at 10:30 GMT.

Australia Dollar Ignores Chinese 2Q GDP but Rallies on RBA MinutesThere have been two notable pieces of event risk for the Australian dollar to respond two over the past 24 hours, and the market-mover wouldn’t be the one we would have suspected. At the top of the docket for Aussie traders this week was the Monday morning release of Chinese GDP for the second quarter. As Australia’s biggest trade partner and given the country’s heavy significant exposure to export industry, a slowing pace for the world’s second largest economy is of significant concern. The 7.5 percent reading for annual expansion, however, seemed to defuse fears. Though particularly soft for this behemoth’s normal pace (extending the longest sub-8 percent clip in decades), the surprise quotient was absent. Far more market-moving was the RBA minutes. The suggestion that central bank policy was “appropriate” given past rate cuts suggests a neutral inflection. However, an assessment of possible further AUD depreciation and scope for cuts keeps the door open.

New Zealand Dollar Response to 13-Year CPI Reading Restrained
On the hunt for short-term volatility events to stir the market temporarily from its Taper trance, the New Zealand dollar had an opportunity to see a sharp move on the back of 2Q CPI (consumer price index) data. Interest expectations had climbed aggressively for two months up until last week on the assumption that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) was closing in on its first rate hike in years. In fact, through last week, overnight swaps were pricing in 70 bps worth of hikes over the coming 12 months – the most hawkish assumption in two-years. Yet, just in the past week, that forecast was tripped by 25 bps. It was a prescient move as the inflation report released this morning printed at quicker-than-expected downshift to a 0.7 percent pace of annual price growth. That is the most tepid reading since 4Q 1999…

Japanese Yen Slides as Carry Benefits Shrinking Volatility Concerns
All of the yen crosses – whether a pairing of safe havens or clearly defined carry trade – advanced Monday. The climb matches the performance of global equities which reflected rising risk trends. Yet, the pace between the two would also match –meaning the yen’s tumble was relatively tame. Event risk from the Japanese newswires has been particularly light through the opening 24 hours of the trading week. Where policy officials previously engaged in proactive jawboning to drive the yen lower, it seems they are now confident of a self-generating cycle. There is also the forthcoming Upper House elections this weekend that is no doubt preoccupying both lawmakers and investors. If the ruling LDP wins, reforms from Prime Minister Abe will soon follow – leveraging the fiscal leg of the government’s ambitious recovery/inflation drive.

Gold Virtually Unchanged for Second Trading Day
A lack of financial instability and/or stimulus action by central banks is a particular dampener for gold. Having lost a third of its value over the past 9 months, the metal faces a serious uphill fundamental battle to regain lost ground. We have seen exactly what kind of event risk the commodity requires to find its way back towards the light. The four-day climb through the past week was sustained on the tempered Taper speculation that followed last Wednesday’s FOMC minutes. Momentum was good enough for Thursday’s break above $1,265, but breaking $1,300 likely requires another firm push. Discussion of Eurozone instability and the influence of US CPI figures in the upcoming session are unlikely to trump the ‘wait-and-see’ gravity related to Bernanke’s testimony on Wednesday. In the meantime, the CFTC’s COT figures showed last week that net long speculative futures positioning hit a fresh eight-and-a-half year low. On the positive side, though, the CBOE’s gold volatility index has continues to retreat (now 23.5 percent) and the wholesale selling of ETF holdings has leveled off this past week.

**For a full list of upcoming event risk and past releases, go to www.dailyfx.com/calendar

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