ForexGen steady in asian seasion today

Usd was firm in Asian session as the relief rally seen on Wall Street carried over to Asia equity markets. Market participants viewed the write downs by UBS and Deutsche as the start of a recovery process for the financial sector and gave risk appetite a lift. Commodity markets continued to slide as de-leveraging with gold remained on the the agenda of investors. Currently gold is trading around 890oz while crude, despite being afflicted by the de-leveraging, is still managing to hold above the important $100/bbl level. Overall the revival of global risk seeking environment has carry trades also outperforming.

Markets will be focused on Fed Chairman Bernanke's congressional testimony today and Thursday. Today he still speaking on the economic outlook before the Joint Economic Committee and Thursday he will be before the Senate Banking committee to alk about the financial turmoil. The accompaning statement that followed the most recent Fed cuts (75bp) had a hawkish tone and it will be interesting to hear any comments about inflation expectations. Undoubtedly today he will be bombarded with questions regarding Bears' rescue and wether the bailout went too far when the Fed decided to take on 29bn of troubled assets.

Bernakes' comments and recent market activity should overshadow the US ADP survey. However this figure will help build our expectations for Fridays nonfarm payrolls