FOREX: Dollar at High Risk of Reversal Unless Aggressive Euro Selling or Risk Aversion Kick In

•Dollar at High Risk of Reversal Unless Aggressive Euro Selling or Risk Aversion Kick In
•British Pound Traders May Make Up for the Lack of BoE Reaction with the Quarterly Report
•Euro Once Again Pacified by Empty Words of Stability from Officials, Poor Greek Auction
•New Zealand Dollar Under Greater Pressure after RBNZ’s Bollard Agrees with IMF
•Canadian Dollar Borrows Inspiration from the Rebound in Oil, Looks Ahead to Trade
•Australian Dollar Doesn’t Fear the Withdrawal of Stimulus Like the Pound Does
•Gold Advances at a More Controlled Pace as Investors Await Dollar’s Fate

Dollar at High Risk of Reversal Unless Aggressive Euro Selling or Risk Aversion Kick In

The impressive climb the dollar was able to manage last week has fully stalled. What we need to determine now is whether this lack of momentum is merely a period of consolidation or the beginning of a revived selling effort. Looking back to the genesis of this counter-trend move (there is no doubting the bearish intentions of the market since the year began), we were coming up short on the primary fundamental drivers. Though there are literally millions of potential catalysts for the dollar, a meaningful trend will really only come through specific developments. It so happened that the advance began with a tame retracement in investor sentiment that saw the S&P 500 pull back from multi-year highs. Playing to the safe haven appeal of the greenback is one of the few sure-fire ways to encourage the currency higher. However, by Thursday, the burden of momentum shifted over to the aggressive unwinding of the euro; which benefits the dollar by virtue of EURUSD representing the most liquid currency pair if the FX market. Given the conviction in the euro selloff; it was easy to overlook the fact that sentiment trends were staring to rebound. Therefore, when the run against the greenback’s primary counterpart tapered, we would be left to the same lackluster fundamentals.


In addition to a notable euro bounce this past trading session, the dollar would also confront the S&P 500’s biggest rally in two weeks. When yield appetite supersedes doubt over uncertain risks, the record low yields on the dollar and ample speculative liquidity pumped in through stimulus will quickly put the greenback under pressure. Yet, we need to keep a close eye on conviction behind the build in risk appetite and the dollar’s position as a funding currency. Optimism itself, is proving harder and harder to generate and sustain. With this week’s recovery, we should note that the benchmark equity index’s climb sees volume is still running at exceptionally low levels following the second lowest level of turnover noted this Monday. As for the dollar’s role as a safe haven, the role is still well-engrained; but we are quickly coming to the June expiration of the $600 billion QE2 program. Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker made note of this fact Tuesday when he commented that stimulus should be withdrawn after the facility matured. And, offering a more definitive hawkish tone, he went on to say the central bank risks “losing ground on inflation” and it was better to act “preemptively” on price pressures. We’ll look to see whether Kocherlakota can keep up the hawkish speculation in the upcoming US session; but don’t expect it to offer the dollar much reprieve.