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>>Martin: Hi, I’m Martin Smith and this is your UFX Markets Week in Review. Today,
we will cover some of the major financial events of the past week and discuss how they
impact the global currency markets. But, before we cover headlines of the week, let’s look
at last week’s Risers and Fallers: Euro/US Dollar pair had a somewhat mixed performance
throughout the week, but reflected a big drop, losing 3.33 percent and closing at 1.4314.
The British Pound struggled against US Dollar through most of the week. The pair closed
at 1.6364, for a loss of 2.04 percent. This was the 4th consecutive week where US Dollar
was showed losses against the Japanese Yen. The pair finished the week trading at 80.61,
a drop of 0.7 percent. The USD/CAD pair had a decent week gaining 2.3 percent, and last
trading at 0.9664. Taking a look at commodities, Gold had a tough time. By the close of Friday
trading, Gold was down 4.35 percent to close the week at $1,495 per ounce. Though these
were not small losses, June Crude orders took an even bigger tumble, dropping nearly 15%
percent on the week. The orders were last trading at $97.18 per barrel by the end of
Friday. In news this week, the euro dipped the most it has in the four months against
the dollar after European Central Bank President Jean- Claude Trichet gave indications that
he will not increase the interest rates in the coming month amid expectations that Greece’s
debt crisis is worsening. The euro began to slide just after the ECB left its key interest
rate untouched at 1.25 percent on May 5. This Euro saw a gain of more than 3 percent after
raising the rate by 0.25 percent in April, which was the first increase in almost 3 years.
Some speculation is circulating that Greece may leave the Euro, but nothing concrete has
indicated that this is the case. At this point however, investors and analysts are taking
a “wait and see” approach. The Canadian dollar dropped the most since July against
the dollar as the country’s main export, Crude oil, felt huge drops on fears that the
worldwide recovery is losing momentum. With commodity prices making significant drops
this week, the largest drop since December 2008, the Loonie fell from a three-year high
against the US Dollar. With Europe’s sovereign debt coming into focus again, the US Dollar
became a preferred refuge and cut most of the CAD’s recent gains. Sticking with North
America, in the United States, the Nonfarm Payrolls were released showing an increase
of 244,000 jobs last month, the largest increase since May 2010. In addition, there was a revised
increase of 221,000 for the previous month’s payrolls and private employers added 268,000
jobs in the month of April, which is the largest increase since February of 2006. This data
has helped relieve some of the concern that the world’s largest economy is slowing down
as commodity prices had been soaring and fuel prices are at their highest level in almost
3 years. If the situation in Europe continues to deteriorate, expect the dollar to continue
to strengthen. Well, that is all the time we have for today. We hope you enjoyed our
weekly review and we hope you will join us next week. Until next time, be sure to visit
us at UFXMarkets.com for all of your online trading needs. For UFXMarkets, I’m Martin
Smith. Good luck and happy trading.