Forex Blog

Another broker supporting the MetaTrader 4 Forex trading platform took its rightful place in my list of brokers. This broker is called FastBrokers. It’s not a very new on-line broker — according to the Wayback Machine FastBrokers is on-line since 2006. Its head company is Fast Trading Services LLC, which is registered with NFA and CFTC. As a payment method they support PayPal, credit cards and, of course, bank wire. These factors combined make FastBrokers one of the most reputable MetaTrader Forex brokers available. The registration process is quite easy, which is also nice. Spreads are standard for these days — from 2 spreads on EUR/USD. If you don’t prefer depositing or withdrawing with e-currencies, this broker should be an interesting choice for you.

EUR/USD trend: sell.
GBP/USD trend: sell.
USD/JPY trend: buy.
EUR/JPY trend: buy.

EUR/USD corrected slightly today after fundamental data both from U.S. and Eurozone showed more support for the dollar rather than for the euro. Important consumer spending and income data arrived from U.S. today, while Eurozone released its business and consumer survey. EUR/USD fell from 1.5750 to 1.5742 today.

Personal income and outlays report showed 1.9% and 0.8% growth in May, respectively. That’s above 0.3% and 0.4% growth in April and 0.4% and 0.7% forecasts for May. Such good values for this important economic indicator may signal that the U.S. economy is recovering from the recent financial crisis.

Eurozone consumer confidence indicator went down in June from -15 to -17, while business climate indicator decreased from 0.58 to 0.14 the same month.

EUR/USD didn’t change from its upward trend today after the final Q1 GDP data was released. The currency pair continued to grow for a third day in a row and advanced today from 1.5664 to 1.5737 after the most important fundamental reports for today were released in U.S.

GDP in the first quarter of 2008 advanced at an annual rate of 1.0 percent — higher than 0.9 percent growth reported in the preliminary report and it has met the analysts’ expectations.

Initial jobless claims didn’t change last week — they remained at the revised value of 384k (revised up from 381k). They were expected to fall to 375k last week.

Existing home sales rose unexpectedly in May — to 4.99 million (annual rate) from April’s 4.89 million. They were expected to rise to 4.95 million.

EUR/USD grew today from 1.5571 to 1.5573 making it a second gaining day this week, but it’s still trading below the Monday open rate (which is 1.5627). All fundamental releases were quite neutral today, so they couldn’t help much neither dollar nor euro. Forex market participants await FOMC rate decision today.

Durable goods orders remained unchanged in May after a 1% decrease in April — and according to the market analysts’ forecast it shouldn’t been changing.

New home sales dropped from 525k annual rate (revised down from 526k) in April to 512k in May. It wasn’t a surprise to the markets; the average forecast was 510k.

Crude oil inventories gained 0.8 million barrels last week, but are still near the lower boundary of the average range for this time of year.

EUR/USD posted its first daily decline this week today — it went down from 1.5528 to 1.5489. Even bad employment data didn’t help the euro to get higher against the U.S. dollar.

Initial jobless claims fell from 386k to 381k last week, but nevertheless were higher than 375k forecast.

May leading indicators rose 0.1% in May a similar growth in April and forecasted stagnation for this month.

Philadelphia Fed index decreased slightly in June — from -15.6 to -17.1. It was expected to rise to -10.

EUR/USD went up today but it failed to reach the yesterday’s gain or to go above the Thursday’s open level. The economic news from U.S. were weak except the Producer Price Index indicator, which benefit for the dollar’s appreciation is debatable.

PPI in May rose 1.4%, while core PPI gained 0.2% during the same period. The forecast values were 1.0% and 0.2% respectively. May increase followed 0.2% and 0.4% increase in April.

Housing starts and building permits were both down in May — at 975k and 969k annualized rate respectively, down from 1,008k and 982k in April. Housing starts were forecasted to come out at 980k, while building permits were expected to go down to 960k.

Industrial production fell 0.2% in May after 0.7% decline in April, missing 0.1% growth median forecast. Capacity utilization fell from 79.7% to 79.4%, while it was expected to remain unchanged in May.

The dollar declined today on the Forex market as the growth that it has experienced during the last week required some correction. EUR/USD currency pair went up from 1.5404 to 1.5517 today. The fundamental background was mixed today in the United States.

NY Empire State manufacturing survey showed a decrease in the index — it went down from -3.2 in May to -8.7 in June, still indicating a pre-recession condition in the manufacturing sector of the U.S. economy.

Net foreign purchases of the U.S. long-term securities grew significantly in April — they were at $115.1 billion, up from $79.6 billion in March (revised down from $80.4 billion) and above the median forecast of $63.2 billion.

EUR/USD daily chart is currently showing a good possibility of a bearish breakout from the range traded since April 22. You can see the present range on this picture below:

If the next trading day closes below the current support line (which is near 1.5379 level), there is a great possibility of a fast drop on EUR/USD down to about 1.5000 rate. On the other hand it can fall back from the current level and continue trading within the range. Anyway if the range persists, a closing bar below the lower bond will mean a strong bearish breakout, while a close above the upper bond wouldn’t necessarily mean a bullish breakout.

EUR/USD trend: sell.
GBP/USD trend: sell.
USD/JPY trend: buy.
EUR/JPY trend: hold.