Here are the key factors to keep in mind today for US Dollar trades:

• US Empire Manufacturing Index: Forex traders will get a snapshot at the US New York Federal Reserve manufacturing region with the release of the Empire Manufacturing Index. This is a solid report and the second most import regional report about the US manufacturing sector behind the Chicago PMI. Economists expected the Empire Manufacturing Index to show an increase to 6.00 in June which would be a solid increase from the 3.09 which was reported in May. Regional manufacturing reports have been extremely volatile and forex traded need to be careful prior to the release. Given a light economic day the Empire Manufacturing Index could have a bigger impact on the US Dollar as normal.
• US Industrial Production, US Manufacturing Production and US Capacity Utilization: A very important economic report on the state of the US manufacturing sector will be release today during the US trading session. Economists expected that industrial production rose by 0.2% in May while manufacturing production rose by 0.3%. Forex traders can compare this to the 0.3% contraction in industrial production which was reported in April and the 0.0% level which was reported in manufacturing production. Capacity utilization is expected to increase by 0.1% in May to 78.3% from April’s 78.2%. While the US economy only account for about one-third of economic output from its manufacturing sector, it is home to many high quality and high paying jobs and therefore remains a central part of the overall economic performance.
• NAHB Housing Market Index: Economists expect an improvement in the US housing front with the release of the NAHB Housing Market Index. Expectations call for an increase to 56 for June, an improvement of 2 as compared to the 54 which was reported in May. Positive news on the US housing market can indicate a stronger currency going forward as consumers tend to increase activity when the housing market is growing.

Here is the key factor to keep in mind today for Canadian Dollar trades:

• Canadian Manufacturing Shipments: Expectations call for a contraction of 0.5% in manufacturing shipments for April. Forex traders can compare this to the 2.9% increase reported in March. A contraction in manufacturing shipments is expected to be bearish for the resource dependent Canadian economy which thrives on commodity exports.

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