Forex Commentary:

The greenback fell broadly after weaker-than-expected U.S. consumer spending and housing data stoked worries that the economic recovery is losing momentum. The U.S. Dollar Index fell 1 percent, its largest drop since January 13.

The euro rose against the dollar on Friday, capping off its best week since late April, as European officials said Greece should be able to shoulder its heavy debt burden without restructuring.

The safe-haven Swiss franc was the day’s top performer, rising to record peaks against the dollar and euro. Traders said the move indicated investors were still worried about Europe’s debt crisis and a divisive U.S. budget debate.

U.S. markets will be closed Monday for Memorial Day.

Trading Setups / Chart in Focus:

USDCHF

The Swiss franc is clearly one of the strongest currencies out there right now due to Euro-zone and US debt problems. The Swiss franc is considered a safe-haven currency.

On Tuesday of this week in our members’ forum one of our senior members discussed the fakey pin bar setup that formed in the USDCHF that day. We can see in the chart below that this price action setup basically fell off a cliff on Wednesday and continued falling into today’s close.

This setup had confluence with the overall downtrend, a horizontal level of resistance, and was well defined. This was a solid price action trading strategy.

Gold

Gold pushed higher today and closed above resistance near $1526.00. This opens up the possibility for the metal to re-test the all-time highs near $1575.00. Right now there are no price action setups to warrant a long, but we will watch any pullbacks to support next week for bullish price action. Note the fakey setup that tipped us off to this recent move higher.

For a more in-depth analysis of the major forex currency pairs and price action analysis, please check out my Forex trading course.

Other Markets:

On Wall Street today U.S. stocks turned out a small gain with the help of a faltering U.S. dollar that boosted metal prices and basic materials stocks.

The Dow added 38.82 points, or 0.31 percent, the S&P 500 added 5.41 points, or 0.41 percent, and the Nasdaq rose 13.94 points, or 0.50 percent.

Upcoming important economic announcements: 5/30/2011

All Day: Britain – Bank Holiday
All Day: United States – Bank Holiday
8:30am EST: Canada – GDP m/m
9:00pm EST: New Zealand – NBNZ Business Climate
9:30pm EST: Australia – Building Approvals m/m