Treasury - Daily Forex for day 30.11.2005

The dollar strengthened against the euro on Tuesday bolstered by favourable U.S. economic data. October durable goods orders, November consumer confidence and October new home sales all came above forecasts. Orders for durable goods rose 3.4% in October, well above market expectations of a 1.1% increase. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index rocketed to 98.9 in November from 85.2 in the previous month. Analysts had forecast a rise to 90.0. Finally, new home sales hit an all-time high of 1.424 million annual units in October, up 13% on the month. Looking ahead, preliminary data on Q3 GDP and Chicago's purchasing managers' index are due this afternoon. Markets will also take a look at Thursday's monetary policy meeting of the ECB, which is widely expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points. The Federal Reserve is also expected to tighten monetary policy at its December meeting, followed by another hike in January.

The Czech crown retreated from a day's high of 28.92 to the euro later in Tuesday's session to close the trade near 29.0. This morning, the CSU reported that wages in Q3 rose nominally by 6.2% yoy and by 4.2% in real terms.