The dollar fell broadly Wednesday against major traded currencies, plunging about 2 yen versus the Japanese currency to 109.84 yen. The reason for the dollar's weakness today was that rise in oil prices and soft U.S. manufacturing data led currency traders to conclude that the U.S. Federal Reserve will have to continue to lower short-term interest rates to jump-start a sluggish U.S economy.The dollar also deteriorated 1.50 cents vs. the euro to $1.4734 in mid-day Wednesday trading.
Rough start to 2008
Currency trader Andrew Resnick, formerly of Next Capital, told BloggingStocks Wednesday the dollar's fall took some traders by surprise.
"It doesn't take much to upset the apple cart regarding the dollar, these days," Resnick said. "A lot of traders, myself included, were stopped-out this morning with dollar-long positions, which is not the way you want to begin the trading new year." Resnick added that he was stopped-out, or went flat after a losing trade Wednesday on dollar-long day trades of euro / U.S. dollar and U.S. dollar / Japanese yen.
Resnick is among those traders and analysts who would have forecast a mild rise for the dollar in 2008. However, several factors that played a role in the dollar's decline in 2007, picked up in 2008 where they have left off.
"Today's jump in the price of oil to over $100 [it's back over $98 by 1:00 p.m.] really weighed on the markets. It's hard for the dollar to rise when oil is rising," Resnick said. Oil causes an outflow of dollars from the U.S. due to the high amount of oil the United States imports/buys from foreign oil suppliers. That outflow also boosts the currencies of oil producing countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom.
"The ISM manufacturing statistic also hit the markets pretty hard. It's not that it was that dramatic a number, it's just that a December [2007] reading below 50 sort of confirms what everyone suspected, which is that the U.S. economy is barely growing and that manufacturing is likely to be soft," Resnick said. "It nearly makes another rate cut by the Fed at its next meeting a done deal, and that's bearish for the dollar."
Possible BOJ intervention?
Resnick added that the dollar is nearing a level -- 109 yen -- at which he believes the Bank of Japan may intervene in the market to boost the dollar. A strengthening yen versus the dollar makes Japanese goods more expensive to U.S. consumers, which hurts Japanese exports if Japanese companies increase prices to compensate for the dollar's fall.
"Right now we're getting into that 'Twilight Zone' where traders sense that the Bank of Japan may intervene to support the dollar, and some traders are not as aggressive on dollar-short positions versus the yen, as a result," Resnick said, adding that he is currently flat.
"If the dollar falls to 105 yen, then it will get really tension-filled. The Bank of Japan may let the dollar fall a little more, for a variety of reasons, but it's hard to envision the dollar falling to 105 yen without some action by the Bank of Japan," Resnick said.










