FXstreet.com (Buenos Aires) – Dollar close the American mostly lower, against European rivals, particularly against Euro and Swiss Franc that extended earlier gains Tuesday, on encouraging U.S. data that boosted risk appetite. However, Wall Street slipped and close barely red, after a choppy session. Richmond Fed’s regional manufacturing index improved in April to -9 from a previous reading of -20, while US consumers’ confidence of the economy rose to its highest point of the year, 39.2 from a previous also revised to the upside, 26.9.Earlier today in Europe, executive ECB board member Bini Smaghi cautioned against further aggressive interest-rate cuts…

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UPDATE: Asian Shares Rise Amid Japan Holiday, But ANZ Drops (Adds information, quotes, updates/adds market levels)SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)–Asian share markets were broadly higher Wednesday as investors started to look past the swine flu headlines. Trade was subdued amid a Japanese holiday, and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group fell after its first half net profit dropped 28%.Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.3% with South Korea’s Kospi Composite up 1.6% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index 1.6% higher. U.S. stock futures were up a tad. Better-than-expected U.S. consumer data helped support Wall Street late Tuesday, with indexes ending only mildly lower.But…

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In the days leading up to the European Central Bank’s rate decision on July 3rd, 2008, many political leaders around Europe publically pleaded for the ECB to leave interest rates unchanged. Among others, French President Sarkozy voiced the opinion that the recent rise in inflation was due primarily to the spike in commodity prices.¹ As such, Sarkozy suggested that though hiking interest rates would not really help in lowering inflation, it would adversely impact growth. The ECB went ahead and hiked interest rates anyway, and looking back now, a month and a half later, we can begin to asses…

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U.S. Economy Reports Push Down the Australian and NZ Dollar The Aussie and the kiwi lost ground against major currencies as producer prices and retail sales fell in the United States, changing the speculations about the global crisis that «the worst is behind us».

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Euro Falls as ECB President Fails to Improve Economic Confidence The euro fell this Friday against major currencies and hit a one-month low against the dollar after ECB President Jean Paul Trichet failed attempt to unite the bank’s policy makers towards a common direction.

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Unexpected Drop in Inflation Rate Pushes Canadian Dollar Down The Canadian dollar had the second day of losses against the greenback after a report indicating that the inflation slowed during the last month.

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Euro Continues to Fall on ECB Policy Disagreement The euro weakened against the yen and slid to a one-month low against the U.S. dollar as the ECB policy makers are failing to reach a consensus to fight the growing recession in the bloc.

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Yen Falls On Trade Report Speculations After 3 days of gains, the Japanese currency weakened against the dollar and the euro before an eventual trade deficit that may be reported by the government for the last month period

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