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

• US GDP: Forex traders are eagerly awaiting today’s second-quarter GDP data especially after the US Fed has started to sound more hawkish about an increase in interest rates. Many believe that interest rates could rise in the US as soon as this year after Janet Yellen confirmed that the Fed remained on track to increase interest rates in 2015. Another reason why this is a much anticipated GDP report is the fact that the US economy contracted in the previous quarter by 0.2%. Economists expect a solid expansion of 2.5% for the second-quarter, but it is hard to understand where that growth is coming from with economic data during the period not supporting such a growth rate. Economists do hope for a strong 2.7% increase in personal consumption which compares to the 2.1% increase in the first-quarter. The GDP Price Index is expected to increase by 1.5% after coming in flat in the previous quarter. The core PCE is also expected to jump to 1.6% in the second-quarter, doubling the 0.8% reported in the first-quarter of this year.
• US Initial Jobless Claims: Expectations call for an increase in initial jobless claims to 270,000 for the week which ended July 25th 2015. This follows a level of 255,000 which was reported for the week ending July 18th 2015. Continuing claims are expected to increase to 2,211,000 for the week which ended July 18th 2015. This follows a level of 2,207,000 which was reported for the week ending July 11th 2015.

Here are the key factors to keep in mind today for Japanese Yen trades:

• Japanese Industrial Production: The Japanese Yen was unable to rally despite the much better than expected report on industrial production for the month of June. Industrial production rose by 0.8% monthly and posted an annualized increase of 2.0%. This was well above expectations for an increase of 0.3% monthly and 1.3% annualized. Forex traders can compare this to the monthly contraction of 2.1% which was reported in May and the annualized contraction of 3.9%.
• Japanese Vehicle Production: The influential Japanese auto manufacturing sector continued to struggle in June. Annualized vehicle production contracted by 5.3%. Forex traders can compare this to the contraction of 16.6% which was reported in May. The overall trend remains to the downside as auto manufacturers in Japan continue to face challenges.

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