EUR/usd
Encountering resistance from the IMF, the European ministers of finance haven't come to terms on the Greek debt issue. The EU and IMF have absolutely different views on the future of Greece. The Fund considers that with the current state of affairs the country won't be able to observe the terms of the agreement (reduction of the debt to 160% of GDP). And in this case the IMF will be unable to issue another bailout tranche to the country. We, just like most market players, expected that the creditors would finally manage to come to an agreement. This didn't happen. Now it only remains to hope that the issue will be resolved at the ministers' meeting on November 26. The problem is that if the IMF doesn't participate, the EU countries will have to make a much bigger contribution, which may meet strong resistance on the part of some members, led by Germany. The ECB could be of help here, if it agreed to write down some part of the Greek debt on its balance sheet. But there is hardly enough space for such a maneuver (very likely not without the intervention of Germany). The single currency dropped down to 1.2735 last night. The feeble attempts of the bulls to consolidate above 1.28 proved to be fruitless. Technically the currency failed to get above its 200-day MA, and this may increase the bears' pressure. Bernanke hasn't brought any good news to the markets either. Yesterday he noted that the fiscal cliff posed a serious threat to the economy. It's remarkable that the markets were growing exactly on the hopes for the quick agreement on the issue. Bernanke made it clear that he was going to expand the QE to make up for the expired Operation Twist. For a long time this factor has been unfavourable for the dollar, yet in the coming days and probably weeks we are likely to hear lots of disappointing news from the Fed's officials.
GBP/USD
Last night the British pound lost all its yesterday's gains on the news about Greece. Today the currency has been falling against the dollar quite quickly, now being already at 1.5890. Yesterday's inability to break through 1.5940 sparked off the fighting spirit of the bears. The pound has been depreciating against the euro for the last few hours, though the trend is unlikely to set in. Most likely, it won't be the sterling's fault that it will suffer selling, yet this will hardly disappoint the Bank of England.
USD/JPY
The yen continues its across-the-board depreciation. Again it should be to the liking of the country's authorities, which were exactly after this. The only problem is that it will hardly save the economy from recession. In the third quarter the GDP shrank by 0.9%. Anyway, the weakness of the yen proves to be good for the markets. Nikkei today is one of the few indices, which have managed to demonstrate some growth. The anti-rally of the yen has been in place for six days in a row, with the slight slowdown only at the beginning of the week.
AUD/USD
The Australian dollar also hasn't been very lucky. audusd keeps depreciating gradually, though there is still a small reserve against the weekly opening levels. Trading is now held at 1.0350. Now this level looks quite balanced. The further performance of the currency will largely depends on the external circumstances.
