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* Big Ben in a predicament! * The euro retreats after new high... * Retail Sales disappoint! * Yen and francs on the menus again! ** Oil Price Slides! Good day... And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! 3 straight days without rain here in St. Louis! WOW! It did however, rain on the currencies' parade yesterday. About mid-morning, the brakes were applied to the run on the dollar, and the car was put into reverse. Retail Sales disappointed, and PPI is not anything to laugh about... All that and more, as we head into the day after a 15-inning All-Star Game! Front and Center though is the good cop, bad cop thing that played out with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke (bad cop) and SEC Chairman Cox (good cop)... Big Ben sent the dollar packing in the morning with his statement that highlighted the Fed's predicament... Big Ben noted the parts of financial markets remained seriously disrupted (which screams, no rate hike), but that dollar weakness had helped cause inflation to rise (Here he goes again trying to blame everyone else for the Fed's creation and feeding of inflation... Oh well, this statement screams, no rate cut!). The currencies all took turns taking a swing at the piñata (dollar)... And... It looked like the volcano was about to blow... Oh, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know where I'm a going to go when the volcano blows! (Ahhh, a little Jimmy Buffett on a Wonderful Wednesday!)...

* A bounce in the euro overnight... * Iran tests long range missiles... * Japan's Machine Orders soar! * Is Big Ben giving us a hint? ** Fighting Deflation Instead of Inflation? Good day... And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! Things settled down a bit yesterday, with the rumors of bailout for Fannie and Freddie Macs fading, and some awful Housing data being swept under the rug. The dollar gained back the ground it had lost to the euro the previous day, and Japan printed a very strong Machine Orders report... And now Iran tests long range missiles... All that and more as we begin our Wednesday... OK, front and center this morning... The Housing data from yesterday. Since the media decided to sweep this under the rug, I thought I would make certain that at least Pfennig Readers were aware of the rot on the Housing vine. The index of Pending Home resales fell -4.7% in April, a much larger decline than the "experts" forecast. I think what you're seeing here is simply that would be buyers are holding off as they expect further declines in prices.....

* ADP prints a huge downside surprise! * Euros get past 1.58... * A Perfect Storm? * Gold continues its move higher! ** Beware The Thin Markets... Good day... And a Happy pseudo-Friday to one and all! It is actually Thursday of course, but it's our Friday, as tomorrow is the 4th of July holiday here in the U.S. I think a lot about the Declaration of Independence these days, as I feel there is a faction of people here in the U.S. that would like to tear up the constitution... So, as we come to the day we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence let's stop and remember that it's WE THE PEOPLE that make a difference in this country, certainly not anything that comes out of Washington D.C.! OK, I'm down from my soapbox... This could really be a Tub Thumpin' Thursday as it has the potential to really kick some rear and take names later. Here's what I'm talking about......

* Dollar faces Dynamic Duo this week... * RBA leaves rates unchanged... * Comparing decades... * Tankan is somewhat positive... ** Profit Taking Dominates The Day... Good day... And a Terrific Tuesday to you! In keeping with Pfennig tradition, I begin each July with words from one of my fave bands of the 70's, Uriah Heep... There I was on a July morning... (I could go on, but you get the point.) Well, the profit taking that I talked about yesterday morning, continued for most of the morning yesterday, causing the euro to fall from the 1.5810 level I saw when I turned on the screens, to the low 1.57 area. It had to be profit taking because why would anyone buy dollars VS euros as a long time investment, with the dynamic duo of the Jobs Jamboree and an ECB rate decision staring the dollar bulls right in the face this week......

* The euro gives back 1-cent... * The Economist agrees with Chuck! * RBNZ takes a shot at kiwi... * FOMC week! ** German Business Confidence Falls... Good day... And a Marvelous Monday to you! Friday turned out to be Fantastico, as I hoped it would, and it ended with a nice surprise retirement party for long colleague, John Kaupisch. I couldn't talk about it Friday, because it was a surprise... But it was real nice, and John was surprised... His last day is July 3... First guy to retire here... I'll probably be the next, but with a 13-year old, I doubt that happens any time in the near future! The currencies held steady Eddie on Friday, with the euro popping up to 1.5660 at one point, only to end the day around 1.5620. Still, a nice day given all the negativity the euro had been receiving because of the Fed's rhetoric, and other minor stuff in the Eurozone... Overnight though, the euro has gotten treated like a red headed step child (OK no nasty comments, it's just a saying). The German Business Confidence as measured by the think tank, IFO, fell to the lowest level in more than two years this month... Business leaders are feeling the pinch of record Oil prices and the threat of higher interest rates....

* The U.S. economy in a wreck! * More problems to come... * Funky accounting at the Fed... * SNB leaves rates unchanged... **Paulson Speaks With A "Double Tongue" - Good day... And a Tub Thumpin' Thursday to you! I was alone last night, and decided to write... Oh Boy! Are you, dear reader, in trouble when I begin writing at night for the next morning! My Cardinals were losing again, so my attention turned to putting down all these thoughts that keep coming into my head... Like Michael Keaton in Night Shift (what a great movie!) I need a recorder to put all these thoughts down... Like... Feed the mayo to the tuna! OK... Front and Center this morning, the euro's rally that went on all day yesterday and into the early Asian session (all the way to 1.5580) ended this morning... Someone, somewhere decided that the U.S. will be able to squeeze by this slowdown... Unfortunately, I don't agree! I see the U.S. being involved with the multi-car accident on the highway... But as Pfennig readers you already know that... However, instead of just hearing from me all the time about this meltdown of the U.S. economy, let's hear from an organization that tracks these things......

* TIC's look funny... * Germany's ZEW is weaker... * A note from the Washington Post! * Tons of data today... **Calling Out The Fed... Good day... And a Terrific Tuesday to you! Well... Someone from the Washington Post is a Pfennig Reader (I think!), as there was a great article in the paper calling out the Fed on their "rate hike" rhetoric... I'll give you snippets of that, and a snippet from my friend, the Mogambo Guru, along with the usual currency talk, on this Terrific Tuesday... Ready, set, let's go! Front and Center this morning is the dollar getting sold all day yesterday, as the euro recovered all the way to 1.5515 in the overnight markets. Unfortunately, the single unit was stopped in its rally tracks by an awful printing of German Investor Confidence, as measured by the think tank ZEW... German Investor Confidence dropped to the lowest level in 15 years this month, as rising inflation is eating away at the economy. I don't expect this report to put too much a dent in the single unit's performance today, but for now it has slipped back below 1.55......

* More dollar strength... * Conspiracy theories... * BOC leaves rates unchanged... * A euro chart discussion... **Front and Center this morning, the dollar continued to hold the advantage over the euro and other currencies yesterday and in the overnight market... The euro did attempt to rally overnight, but that move was thwarted, as an European Central Bank (ECB) member, Stark, threw cold water on the rally. Stark, said that "the markets have understood the Governing Council's signal", which meant the markets understood that the ECB was going to raise rates in July... But then the cold water came flying out of the bucket as Stark then said, "However, we are not talking about a series of rate increases."...