Market News

The dollar came close to an 8-month low on Wednesday as the government shutdown continued, bringing the United States government closer to the mid-October deadline that may see a historic debt default. The panic spread beyond US borders into both Europe and Asia, where shares continued to plummet.

With the U.S. government’s stalemate now entering week number two, the U.S. Dollar tumbled close to a recently struck 8-month trough as investors ponder lawmakers’ failure to reach any consensus and the affect that might have on the looming debt default date.

During Monday’s Asian trading session the U.S. Dollar once again failed to gain any traction against its safe haven rivals, the Swiss Franc and the Japanese Yen, while the U.S. Dollar Index remained near to an 8-month trough as the U.S. government’s stalemate enters another week.

The common currency Euro is poised to strike its 2013 peak at any time, driven higher by unexpectedly encouraging economic data from the Eurozone and the closure of the U.S. government as a result of an impasse between the two major political parties.

The Euro got a boost from comments made by the European Central Bank as well as positive political news from Italy.

As investors and analysts expected, the U.S. Dollar has become one of the first victims of the U.S. Federal government’s shutdown. The U.S. Dollar Index slipped hard against its major peers, touching on a fresh 8-month low, while safe haven currencies got a boost from investors’ uncertainty.

The U.S. Dollar Index edged higher against a weighted basket of its peer though investors remain wary ahead of a looming deadline in Washington, D.C., which could mean the closure of the federal government.

A new political crisis in Italy has resulted in a steep fall of the common currency Euro as Silvio Berlusconi comes back into the picture like a whirlwind, pulling his party ministers out of government over the weekend and calling for fresh elections.

During Friday’s Asian trading session the greenback remained steady and is poised to finish off this trading week essentially flat after struggling to gain positive momentum amid growing political uncertainty in the U.S. and the Fed’s lack of clarity as to if and when it intends to rein in existing stimulus plans.

With the U.S. budget stalemate keeping any potential gains for the U.S..

The Euro struggled to maintain momentum following unexpectedly poor data from Germany which showed that while IFO business sentiment improved somewhat in September’s reading it was not to the extent that as poll of economists had expected.

The Euro gave back modest gains following comments made by Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank who said that he and the ECB were prepared to do whatever was necessary in order to hold market rates at bay and avoid further damage to the fragile Eurozone economies, including additional liquidity injections.

Asian markets crept higher on Monday with a regional benchmark index trading near a four-month high after a closely-watched measure of Chinese manufacturing hit its highest in six months and showed a promising pick up in export orders, another sign of stabilization in the world's second biggest economy.

The Federal Reserve Bank’s surprise having worn off to some extent means that the U.S. Dollar Index was able to start to recover from the 7-month trough that it hit in the wake of the Fed’s newsflash.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve surprised markets when they announced that they had no intention of curtailing the existing quantitative easing program as the U.S. economy had not sufficiently recovered enough to satisfy the members of the FOMC.