The US dollar today has been trading mostly higher against its major currency rivals in the forex trading markets. The dollar has reached its highest trading level against the euro in over a month while also advancing against the British pound sterling Swiss franc Canadian dollar and Japanese yen.
Meanwhile the American stock markets have been lower on the day with the Dow Jones industrial average decreasing by over 50 points to trade near the 10,199.99 level. The NASDAQ has edged lower by roughly 1 point while the S&P 500 has fallen by over 4 points to the 1070.60 level. Oil has declined by approximately $0.98 today to land at the $73.45 per barrel threshold while gold has declined by $5.70 to level at $1228.10 per ounce.
There was little in economic news released today with the highlights being consumer price data out of Canada. Canada’s consumer price index rose by 0.5% in July following a 0.1% decline in June according to the report by Statistics Canada. The data just missed market forecasts that were expecting a 0.6% increase.
On an annual basis the consumer price index is 1.8% higher than the July 2009 level following a 1.0% annual increase in June. Pushing the consumer price index higher was a 7.9% annual increase in energy prices.
Core consumer prices excluding energy prices and other volatile items rose by 1.6% on an annual basis over the July 2009 level while falling by 0.1% on a monthly basis in July from June. Core prices failed to surpass market forecasts that were looking for increases by 0.1% on a monthly basis and by 1.8% on an annual basis.

NZDUSD 4hr Chart

After making an impressive run from sub 6600 – 7150, the pair has double topped putting it in a range from 7150 – 7050.

However, the last 4hr candle could be a bad omen for bulls as it forms a stiff rejection just shy of 7150. This could portend a decline in the works but it will first have to break the base at 7025 for further losses. Should there be a close below 7000, we expect the pair to tag 6935 first (38.2% fib) and then challenge and important base at 6866. Traders can wait for the 4hr close below 7000 or wait for a corrective move up to 7135 to short the pair, taking profit shy of 7025, bringing the stop to BE (breakeven) then holding for the larger aforementioned targets.

If you would like to find simple high-probability trades using pivots and price action only, you can check out the Advanced Price Action or the ProForex Course which will teach you rule-based proprietary systems to trade these profitable setups.

If you have any questions about our courses, feel free to email me Info@2ndskies.com

The HLHB Mechanical Trading System is back in action! Remember the short signal that it generated last week? Well, it turned to be a winner!
The signal from last week was a valid one since Stochastic was not yet oversold and the pair fell 30 pips below the low of the crossover candle.
Here's a brief rundown of what happened in the trade:
1. The HLHB system entered two short positions at 1.4547 with a total risk of 1%.
2. The stop for both positions was 150 pips.
3. The first position hit its profit target at 1.4315.
4. The second position's trailing stop was triggered at 1.4405 All in all, the system was able to take home 292 pips (150 + 142), which is a 1% gain. Woot!
So what moved the market this week? From what I've read on Pip Diddy's blog posts this past week, it seems like Europe's sovereign crisis has come back into vogue.
The spotlight focused on Greece as S&P's move to downgrade its credit rating once again sparked talks of the country being forced to restructure its debt. Heck! There are even those who say that it may eventually get booted out of the euro zone. To make matters even worse for Greece, protests against austerity measures turned violent and raised doubt on the government's ability to meet its financial obligations. Yikes!
Looking ahead, I think Greece will still be one of the dominant themes in the market next week. After all, a fad doesn't go away that fast. Justin Bieber is still around, isn't he? Ha! I wonder what euro zone finance ministers have to say about Greece's situation when they meet in Brussels...
Anyway, I had a really good week! Not only was I successful in trading the news, I also made a lot of friends on Twitter and Facebook! I may not have a date to watch R-Pattz' movie Water for Elephants with, at least I have you guys in my follower list to discuss my trade ideas. (Aww, virtual group hug!)
If I could, I would stay in all day and just talk forex with you guys. But of course, I have to balance my trading with my job at the coffee shop. Trips to the salon and shoes don't pay for themselves ya know. So I came up with this brilliant idea as a compromise.

I'm going to post one trade idea everyday (except on Friday) next week IF I get at least 50 more followers on Twitter by the end of Sunday (May 15), 12 midnight EST.
Little ole Huck needs a little convincing to give up a few precious sleeping hours for posting more trade ideas. More Tweeps should do the trick! I'll take some of the setups but not all. (I wouldn't want to overtrade.) Nonetheless, I pinky promise to give you a trade idea on the majors and I'll put them up during the European sessions.
Whaddaya think of my proposal? Follow @LoonieAdventure on Twitter now!