On Tuesday, the pair showed some decline with the improvement in the general sentiment and after the release of upbeat Swiss trade data.
The recovery in risk appetite damped demand on the dollar as a safe haven as the three top rating agencies S&P, Moody’s and Fitch kept their rating for the U.S. unchanged despite the failure of the Congress to reach an agreement on budget cuts, where the spending reduction will be at $1.2 trillion.
The main focus this week has shifted to the U.S. after remaining on the euro zone over the past few weeks. Yet, investors remain alert to the latest developments in the euro area, especially amid the political changes encountering some of the region’s highly indebted countries.
Standard & Poor’s rating agency said the results of the Spanish general elections which witnessed the win of the Popular party with an overwhelming majority will not affect the country’s credit rating, yet it maintained its negative outlook due to the bad economic situation.
Also in Spain, the Spanish Treasury sold 3 billion euros of short-term bills today with yields rising again to records. Spain sold 0.97 billion euros of 6-month bills, where the yields climbed to 5.227% from 3.302% in the last auction that took place in October. Also, 2.01 billion euros of 3-month treasury bills with yields of 5.11% from 2.292% a month earlier were sold.
Moreover, data from Switzerland showed improvement as Swiss trade surplus widened to 2.15 billion francs from 1.85 billion francs in September. Exports rose 1.3% from a revised of 4.3%, while imports soared 1.4% compared with a revised of 0.7%.
On the other hand, data from the U.S. showed deterioration as the second estimate for the annualized Gross Domestic Product for the third quarter of 2011 was downwardly revised to 2.0% compared with the first reading and median estimates of 2.5%.
On Wednesday, eyes will be on MBA mortgage applications for Nov. 18 at12:00 GMT while will be followed by durable goods and personal spending at13:30 GMT. Durable goods report is predicted to show a drop of 1.0% in Oct. from the prior 0.8% drop, while personal spending will signal a drop to 0.3% in Oct. from 0.6% in Sep.
Due to thanks giving holiday on Thursday, initial jobless claims for the week ending Nov. 19 and continuing claims for the week ending Nov. 11 will be available at13:30 GMT. Thereafter, at14:55 GMT, University of Michigan confidence will show a rise to 64.5 in Nov. from the prior 64.2.
Originally posted here
