The Euro/USD touched it’s resistance at $1.44, its last previous high on December 17th then fell back to under $1.40 as we saw Crude and especially the precous metals fall on Friday.  Gold fell to its lowest point in a week and a half to $950 while Crude touched $70 only to fall below $68.50.  Will we see the USD continue to strengthen in the coming weeks or is this a temporary pullback for the rising commodity trend?

heading into the weekend the market is expected to be slightly lower but lacking fanfare following the previous couple days. There is little on the fundamental front that is driving our marekts. We are strictly dependent on the US dollar and crude. Pay close attention to those for direction and momentum with both offering negative momentum to start today (friday).
Looking to next week we still have to look at macros but with WASDE on Weds, crop progress on Monday and export sales again there is plenty to look forward to on fundamental side.

There seems to be fear that our nation’s debt is out of control. Countries like China staying away from longer term treasuries will push some into either keeping money on the side or investing in commodities. We have seen a surge in commodities and many are speculating that the stock market may take longer to gain strength. Honestly, I am tired of high ranking officials using their power to move the markets. Bernanke is one of the smartest people around and should not say anything about when the recession should end. This recession is different than those of the past!

We’ve already been seeing signs that China is not pleased with the massive printing of money here in the US. While it may be more reasonable to repay that debt with inflated dollars, china seems to be growing wise to that. They already cut a deal last month with Brazil to buy their oil witl Yuan, now….this from Bloomberg.

“China’s Yu Tells U.S. Not to Be Complacent About Debt”

By Bloomberg News

June 2 (Bloomberg) — China’s former central bank adviser Yu Yongding
will meet Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner today and tell him the
U.S. shouldn’t be complacent about China continuing to buy Treasuries.

“I wish to tell the U.S. government: ‘Don’t be complacent and think
there isn’t any alternative for China to buy your bills and bonds’,” Yu
said in an interview yesterday. “The euro is an alternative. And there
are lots of raw materials we can still buy.”

Yu said he is scheduled to meet Geithner today at the Grand Hyatt Hotel
in Beijing.

Even with all the changes we’ve experienced in the industry these past two years, especially here on the floor, (futures pits shut down, and all of the jobs eliminated), it looks strange as I arrive on the 7th floor with the Translux quote boards now turned off. These boards which dominate the walls of the trading floor are now black. Cost savings? Perhaps, but it resumes the downward slide of this once exciting forum. 

Still no electronic trading platform has been found that can attract the business away from the option pits. How long will that continue? Is it a simple matter of bandwidth?