What’s Up, What’s Down: Higher Yen and Canadian Dollar, Lower Greenback

Comments for Monday, March 9, 2009

Looking Ahead to Today By Reflecting back at Friday’s price action

A bear market for foreign currencies means a Bull Market for the U.S. Dollar. Currency traders should not overlook the U.S. Dollar Index futures contract traded at the ICE Futures-U.S. exchange.

Today is the March/June Currency Roll-Over…when traders actively begin closing out their March positions and rolling them into the June. This week we will see increased trading floor activity due to the March/June spreads. Traders will typically begin placing new positions in the June contract as opposed to the March.

CURRENCIES:

Higher closes for the Euro Fx, Swiss Franc, Japanese Yen, Canadian Dollar, and Aussie Dollar while lower for the British Pound and dollar index. The euro and Swiss continue to look lower overall along with the yen which may be in a bear flag at this time. The Canadian Dollar continues to be in a downtrend overall while now in what looks like a bear pennant.. The pound settled lower after starting out higher still holding the 14000 area basis the June contract while trending lower overall. The Aussie Dollar also continues to be in a gradual downtrending market. The dollar closed lower with a failed bull pennant but has been working higher with similar chart formations over the last several months and acting like it will soon test its highs. I have Sell Signals for the Canadian Dollar and Japanese Yen.

Japanese Yen Chart

Canadian Dollar Chart

U.S. Dollar Chart

See the balance of my morning comments, including the Metals, Softs, Energies and Grains, at my website. For my complete coverage, visit my commentary page at www.markethead.com.

Rick Alexander has been a broker and analyst in the futures business for over thirty years. He is a Vice-President for Sales and Trading at the Zaner Group (www.zaner.com) a Chicago-based futures brokerage firm. If you would like a free booklet explaining the charts mentioned above, email Rick at ralexander@zaner.com.