Economy has weakened, says the Fed!

Now that is something most of us have known for quite a while but to actually have Bernanke, the Fed chairman say those words in a public meeting is something that must have sent shivers down the backs of every single trader in Wall Street. The fact of the matter is that consumer confidence is really low these days and no matter what rebates the government offers, it is staying really low.
One can blame it on the Iraq war or on the state of the economy at large or on the mortgage and sub prime crisis, but whatever you do blame it upon, the reality is that for the moment anyway, the consumers are following the banks. By that I mean, that they are holding very tightly onto their purse strings. Will the confidence come back? It will, without a doubt, but the only thing is that it is going to take some time for that to happen.

Dollar hitting new lows against the yen!

Today the Dollar is trading at new lows against the Yen, currently trading in the 110 margin. Just a few months back the Dollar was at 118 to the Yen but with the subprime and the housing market the Dollar is fast heading to new slumps and it seems that it is pulling the Gold with it. Many of you know that before the 1980's the Dollar was pegged to the Gold but that has since then been de linked.

But the sentimental factor along with a really cold beary market is fast sending the Gold in the direction of the Dollar. But that is good news for the consumers in the sense that they can now get the gold jewellery at a much lower rate. But the problem is that there are not that many consumers who want to purchase anything right now and all the purses and the wallets are busy tightening and the consumer spending is getting lower. Which is why the festival season could not hae come at a much better time and with X'mas right around the corner perhaps with increased spending by way of gift purchases by the consumer and better news in the market, thew Dollar can start looking up!