The U.S. Dollar fell across the board against all the major currencies last week with the exception of the Pound Sterling. The most price action was seen against the commodity dollars with the Aussie, Loonie and Kiwi ending up as the best performers versus the Greenback last week.

Overall, the Greenback lost 1.2% against the Euro, 1.1% against the Yen, 1.2% against the Canadian and New Zealand Dollars and 1.9% against the Australian Dollar. As previously mentioned, the exception to the down week for the Greenback was the Pound Sterling which declined by just 0.3% against the U.S. Dollar.

U.S. stocks gained across the board with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising by 297.28 or 2.93% to 10,447.93, while the S&P 500 gained 66.77 or 4.21% to 1,654.46. The broader based Nasdaq Composite Index gained 80.12 or 3.72% to close at 2,233.75, while the Russell 1000 gained 22.38 or 3.82% to close at 608.52.

Commodities were generally mixed with Crude Oil losing $0.57 or 0.76% to $74.60 per barrel while gold gained $5.50 or 0.45%per ounce to close the week at $1,240.50 per ounce. The grain market continued climbing with Wheat now showing a gain of 158.65% for the year as Russia banned grain exports.

Yields on U.S. Treasuries were mostly unchanged to slightly higher from the previous week, showing no significant change with the 3 month T-bill yielding 0.15%, the 30 year T-bond yielding 3.79% versus 3.69% the previous week.

The U.S. Dollar was down overall last week despite some positive economic news out of the United States, with the U.S. Dollar Index losing -0.90 or 1.09% to 82.02. The Index is up 5.34% year to date.

Last Week's U.S. Data Review

Economic releases in the United States were a mixed bag last week, with many economic numbers coming out as expected, as well as a few pleasant surprises for the U.S. economy.

The U.S. Dollar started last week higher on the back of Bernanke's speech at the Kansas City Fed's annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole Wyoming, but disappointment set in after Wednesday's ADP Non Farm Payrolls number came out lower than expected.

Last week's economic data releases began on Monday, with the Core PCE Price Index increasing by 0.1% month on month - as was widely expected - while Personal Spending rose 0.4% month on month, also as expected. Nevertheless, Personal Income increased by only 0.2% versus a consensus of a 0.3% increase.

Tuesday saw the CB Consumer Confidence survey come out at 53.5 - considerably better than the 50.7 expected - and with the previous number revised upward from 50.4 to 51.0. In addition, the S&P/CS Composite-20 HPI showed an increase of 4.2% year on year - versus an expected 3.8% increase - while the Chicago PMI came out slightly lower than expected at 56.7 versus a consensus of 57.3.

On Wednesday, the FOMC released their minutes for the August 10^th meeting. In the minutes, the Federal Reserve's policymaking committee detailed previously announced plans to reinvest debt principal payments into longer term Treasuries and mortgage backed securities.

Also on Wednesday, ADP Non-Farm Payrolls came out showing a rather dismal decline of -10K versus an expected increase of +20K, while the previous number was revised downward from 42K to 37K. Also, Construction Spending declined by -1.0% month on month, versus a lower expected decline of -0.4%. On the brighter side, the ISM Manufacturing PMI survey came out at 56.3, beating the consensus of 53.2, and ISM Manufacturing Prices came out at 61.5 versus an expected 55.5.

Thursday saw U.S. Initial Jobless Claims contract to 472K versus an expected 476K, while the previous number was revised up to 478K from 473K. Also, Pending Home Sales increased by 5.2% month on month - significantly better than the decline of -1.3% expected - while Revised Non Farm Productivity declined by -1.8% month on month, just a notch above the expected -1.9% expected decline.

On Friday, the weekly U.S. highlight on the employment front was the Non Farm Payrolls data that came out showing a decline of only -54K. This was significantly better than the -101K expected, with the previous number also revised significantly better from -131K to -54K. Also out on Friday was the U.S. Unemployment Rate which held steady at 9.6%, as well as the ISM Non Manufacturing PMI which came out at 51.5, versus an expected 53.6 number.

Fundamental Data Outlook for the United States

The calendar of economic data coming up for release in the United States calms down significantly for the coming week, but it will still offer some significant information for the forex market to digest. With respect to data, the coming week will feature the important U.S. Trade Balance number due for release on Thursday.

Monday begins the week on a quiet note as the United States observes its Labor Day Bank Holiday, and Tuesday is similarly quiet.

As a result, Wednesday begins the week with the scheduled release of the important Federal Reserve Beige Book, in addition to Consumer Credit (-4.5B m/m).

Thursday should provide the weekly highlight with the release of the U.S. Trade Balance (-47.4B), in addition to the significant Initial Jobless Claims number (470K).

Friday finishes the relatively quiet week, with only the release of Wholesale Inventories (0.4% m/m) scheduled.