USD Tumbles to Lowest Levels of 2009

The dollar fell to its lowest level of the year as traders returned from the Labor Day holiday, relinquishing the 1.45-level against the euro and sliding to 1.6586 versus the British pound. Commodities continued to test higher at the start of the week, with spot gold breaching the key resistance level of $1,000 per ounce and crude oil firming above the $70 per barrel mark to $71.20. Meanwhile, the Asian equity bourses climbed higher overnight, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rallying by over 2% and the Shanghai Composite gaining by 1.7%.

The US economic calendar is light for most of this week as the majority of the releases are slated for Friday. Weekly jobless claims, which are due on Thursday, are expected to improve marginally to 560k from 570k a week prior. On Friday, the data to be released consists of July wholesale inventory, wholesale sales, and the University of Michigan consumer confidence survey. The wholesale sales reading is estimated to edge up to 0.6% in July from 0.4% a month prior, while the wholesale inventory figure is seen posting a 1.0% decline, albeit improving from a decline of 1.7% previously. The preliminary reading for the September University of Michigan consumer confidence survey is largely unchanged, seen slipping marginally lower to 65.3 from 65.7 in August and the expectations component is estimated to ease to 64.2 from 65.0.