It’s all getting a bit old now. The Forex Markets have been relatively predictable lately. The dollar is getting pounded. Everyone’s getting more confident in the economy…yada yada yada. But I guess that’s what is happening. People are just going to have to get used to the idea of a weaker dollar in the short term.

All the majors have been taking advantage of the fall of the dollar, including the yen. The dollar managed to fight back against the yen a little bit last week, but faltered. A steep drop followed. There are just too many speculators getting in on the action now. As I said, this is it, in the short-term.

There’s not much evidence that the US Dollar’s status as the preferred reserve currency has been crushed completely; however, there is some cause for worry. The main issue now: rumblings that Standard and Poor will drop the US’s AAA rating. It hasn’t been announced officially, but many see it as a foregone conclusion. Investors and traders can take a hint. They won’t wait for the sh*t to hit the fan. They are offloading the dollar as fast as they can.

It won’t go on forever. We should expect some pullback soon. If there is a major drop again early in the week, then a retracement should follow. The rate of the fall will slow. There just won’t be anybody left to sell the Greenback.

The guys that have benefited the most from this fall – in fact, from this whole economic meltdown – would have to be the outliers. I am talking about the South African Rand, the Brazilian Real and others like that. The Rand has climbed a whopping 11% against the Dollar in this month of May alone! It is now at the highest point it has been since early 2003.

The currency is strengthening so much that the Brazilian Central Bank is having to buy dollars to curb it. There’s good reason for this. They are afraid. While a strong currency shows some positive signs, especially in this case (where it is a result of investment in Brazilian stocks and other assets), there is cause for concern as regards exports. A strong currency means foreign countries have to pay more for Brazilian exports. That can only continue for so long, before they start looking elsewhere for other options. So they are buying dollars, and talking the Real down as well. This will also help to decrease the quantity of trigger-happy speculators out there who are interested in trading the Real against the Dollar.

When the people with the power to effect currency values (in this case, the central bank) start making comments that indicate they are willing to take strong action to change the trend, traders pay attention. You can often see this sometimes when a Central Bank announces a decision on whether or not to change the current interest rate. The markets might react in a particular fashion once the decision is announced, but the comments might change that. If a bank cuts rates (an action that would normally reduce the value of a currency in normal circumstances i.e. not these days), but then announces that it will be raising them shortly to address another issue. The currency might not fall as much, as traders will read the INTENT of the bank and might act on that instead. It’s just an example to highlight the fact that comments can be extremely important.

With that in mind, note that there will be 4 Central Bank meetings this week. Europe, England, Canada and Australia will be making rate decisions. These boys have all whipped the dollars ass this week. Changes to rates are not expected by any of their Central Banks. However, we come back to those comments again. What they say will be important. If there is negative talk, we could see some pullback in the trend. The dollar has fallen to pretty much everyone’s projected targets. Any excuse will do to gain, even if it’s just a little bit. That said, a further fall seems to be the more likely scenario this week. Not much further though.

Happy Trading.