The U.S. Dollar had a mixed week against the major currencies last week, falling against the British Pound Sterling and the Euro and rising against the Japanese Yen. The commodity currencies were especially hard hit last week, with the Canadian Dollar losing 2.5%, the Australian Dollar down 3.9% and the New Zealand Dollar off 3.6%.

Risk aversion came back with a vengeance last week, even though the price of gold came off sharply after failing to best the previous week's all-time record high of $1,265.05. Gold fell over 3 percent on Thursday alone, bringing the price down to $1,196.38 per ounce. The drop marked gold's largest single one day drop since April. Crude oil prices were also off sharply last week, approaching the $70 per barrel level.

Furthermore, U.S. stocks fell to their lowest level in 2010 last week, as the market declined every day. The S&P 500 average declined by 5% on the week, with nearly 95% of stocks in the index finishing the week in the red. Financials were hardest hit, shedding 7.6%. Basically, the U.S. stock market has dropped in 9 out of 10 sessions, bringing stocks down a whopping 9% overall.

U.S. debt securities rose sharply last week in the flight to quality as the yield on the U.S. 10-year note fell below 3.00% for the first time in more than a year. The 2-year note fell below 0.60% to a record low.

The markets in the United States are closed on Monday for the Fourth of July Independence Day holiday and will re-open on Tuesday.

Last Week's U.S. Data Review

The U.S. economic numbers seen last week gave little reason for celebration, with very few encouraging releases. This situation played a major role in the decline seen in U.S. stocks.

The week began with Monday's release of Personal Income showing a 0.4 % increase month on month versus the 0.5% expected and Personal Spending coming out slightly better than the 0.1% expected at 0.2%. Also on Monday, the Core PCE Price Index came out at 0.2% versus the 0.1% expected.

On Tuesday, the CB Consumer Confidence indicator showed a decline in confidence that the U.S. economy is improving, with a disappointing reading of 52.9 versus an expected reading of 62.8. On Wednesday, the ADP Non-Farm Employment Change came out at with a dismal 13K new jobs created versus a consensus of 59K.

On Thursday, ISM Manufacturing PMI came out at 56.2 versus a consensus of 58.9, while Pending Home Sales were off by -30% versus a consensus of -7.4% as the increase driven by the Homebuyer's Tax Credit program ended. Also out on Thursday Initial Jobless Claims showed 472K new unemployed versus an expected 454K.

The rather dismal week ended with Friday's key Non-Farm Payrolls number which showed a worse than expected decline of -125K versus the -106K consensus anticipated. Nevertheless, the U.S. Unemployment Rate improved notably to 9.5% versus a consensus of 9.8% and was one of the few positive economic numbers released for the U.S. economy last week.

Fundamental Data Outlook for the United States

The coming week of economic data releases for the United States calms considerably, but still offers some interesting data for the forex market to review. Economic data releases feature Tuesday's important ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI or Purchasing Managers' Index.

The week commences on a quiet note as the Bank Holiday for Independence Day will close U.S. markets on Monday.

Tuesday then provides the weekly highlight of the ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI, for which the consensus expectation is 55.2.

Wednesday has little to offer, but Thursday's Initial Jobless Claims could give some important hints about the employment picture in the United States. The market consensus for this number is 461K. Also out on Thursday is Consumer Credit which is expected to drop by -1.9B month on month.

Friday closes down the rather uneventful week as Wholesale Inventories are scheduled for release. The market's consensus for this number centers around 0.4% month on month.