It looks like the news of a surprise jump in the US weekly jobless claims have impacted the dollar as it fell on Thursday. The economic growth forecast in the second quarter that went below what was expected also reduced prospects of a Federal Reserve interest hike for this year. The dollar recouped a bulk of its losses, however, when a report showed a rise in the manufacturing activity in the Midwest region in July. This is helped by the decline in US crude oil prices (For more information on crude oil prices, read The guide to crude oil prices).

On the Europe front, the euro came strong with a session high of US$1.5700. However, the drop of more than US$2 a barrel in the US crude oil halted the currency’s advance.

Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox is a popular free browser known for being secure. It’s newest version, version 3 offers a lot of improvements, especially when it comes to online banking.

The new version boasts of anti-malware protection, integration with antivirus software, and phishing protection. When you accidentally visit a phishing site, the browser will alert you that it is an unsafe website and will not proceed into opening the site.

When you click on a forged or fake website, likethe ones made by scammers and phishers, another alert will stop you from doing so, along with a big warning.

Malware usually comes from the Internet when you download items. With integration with antivirus software, Firefox will automatically have them scanned by your antivirus to check if it has malware bundled with it. (Tips on how to get rid of malware)

If you use online banking a lot, then it will be a good choice to use this browser. There is no risk since it is open source and free. It works on either Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems too. For more information regarding this article, read Online security best practice tips.

The Arabcom Group is set to hold the third Middle East Forex Trading Expo in Bahrain. It is agenda is to showcase the advantages of doing forex exchange online.

Foreign exchange trading happens every day, and is quite profitable if done in the right way. According to experts, forex trading has an advantage and possibility to earn more compared to stock trading. It is because it requires a small investment to get started on it.

In this event, the ease and convenience of forex trading through the Internet will be emphasized. It is a very easy process that does not require much knowledge. All that is required is an account, a broker, a bid or offer, and the currency of choice. The best part is, transactions can be done at any time or any day.

The foreign exchange exhibit is set to be held at the Crown Plaza Hotel on April 23 and 24 and the entrance to the event is free of charge. If you’re interested in this article, you’ll surely enjoy learning how to calculate exchange rates.

New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) trading fell to the lowest this year. This is a clear sign that changing profit forecasts are actually making investors hesitant to sell or buy stocks before companies report results for the first quarter of the year.

On Tuesday, around 1.2 billion shares are traded on the NYSE, the lowest since the year started. Over the last four days, an average of only 1.24 billion shared are traded. That was 27 percent lower than 1.69 billion, the daily average this year. The Bloomberg News data reports that the volume on the NYSE had jumped to 1.72 billion shares per day and is expecting to climb to a record.

Analysts have reduced their estimates for Standard and Poor’s 500 Index companies’ weekly profits as the feeling that the economy may be in a recession grows stronger. Now, they forecast a fall of 11.3 percent.

According to minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting held on March 18, the Federal Reserve said that some policy-makers feared a severe and prolonged economic downturn. The minutes also showed that the Fed found evidence that the worst housing collapse in more than a quarter century has already hit bottom. In case you’re wondering how Stock Exchange operate, read how does the stock market work and as a bonus here are the tips on how to live through a recession.

According to the annual report of the Bank of Israel, the government has underspent its budget by up to 2.7 percent almost every year since 2002.

Israel’s central bank predicts that should 2008 follow the established trend, NIS 8.1 billion will still be unspent. The said report also indicates that there has been a systematic failure to appropriately budget and spend. Serial overbudgeting, said the central bank, affects as much as 29 percent of the nation’s spending plans.

The Bank of Israel reckons that the ovberbudgeting is deliberate. It believes that it is designed to allow larger reserves than would exist otherwise.

The budget of the Ministry of Internal Security is highlighted as an example. The ministry’s budget has steadily risen even though the real amount it actually spends has fallen. If you enjoy reading this article, you’ll surely get pointers on learning how to create a budget.

A Financial Times article by Wolfgang Munchau has referenced a study claiming that the persistent deficits in current account and a long-term fall in the US dollar coupled with the rise of the euro (a potential genuine alternative to the dollar) would suppress the global role and standing of the US dollar. The said study was conducted by professors at the Harvard University and the University of Wisconsin.

However, Munchau has taken it a bit further by claiming that the euro could actually become the dominant reserve currency in the world sooner, due to the reckless policies of the Federal Reserve, the relative strengthening of the financial system of Europe, and the reluctance of third-world countries to maintain a dollar peg.

The US dollar has been the dominant reserve currency in recent decades, but it has to be noted that this has not always been the case. Up until World War II, the British pound held the title.

Many still claim that it remains highly unlikely that the euro will actually displace the US dollar as the dominant reserve currency within the next 10 years. Nevertheless, they believe that the amount of reserves that are held in euros will be close to matching those held in US dollars. If you enjoy reading this article, you’ll surely learn more by reading how to calculate exchange rates.

The central bank of Israel intervened in the foreign currency markets to buy dollars on Thursday, March 13. (If you want to learn more on Israel, read Israel - Your destination to the promised land)

This is the first time that the Bank of Israel made such a move for more than a decade. Analysts were surprised by Governor Stanley Fischer’s decision after his comments that the move was very unlikely and only a market failure would make them do it. Traders were also caught off-guard. It even surprised the Finance Ministry of Israel just as well.

The central bank, however, has refused to reveal exactly how much it has actually purchased. Although it is impossible to determine precisely how much the bank bought, some estimates suggest that it was around US$100 million.

The central bank released an extremely brief statement citing the extraordinary behavior of the shekel exchange rate as the reason for this unexpected action.

On March 13, the shekel hit its lowest against the US dollar (NIS 3.35) in 1997, the same year the Bank of Israel last intervened in the foreign currency market.

The bank also refused to rule in or rule out possible interventions in foreign currency in the future. If you learn from this article, you’ll learn more if you read how to calculate exchange rates.

The US dollar is becoming more and more volatile after the release of Non-Farm Payroll, which indicated that the US economy is approaching a recession. Still, it fended off the downward pull as the Federal Reserve announced a $200 billion infusion into the credit market in order to ease liquidity constraints. This led the dollar to pick up against many key currencies and soaked in the largest gains against the New Zealand and Canadian dollars.

The Fed was able to prevent a major dollar meltdown in the financial markets when it announced the infusion to resolve the issues on liquidity and purged mounting pressures from the fall in employment. For the second consecutive month, the Change in Non-farm Payroll dropped as it fell to -63,000, but the slowing economy’s lowered temperament was hampered when the Fed released this emergency solution before the employment release. Moreover, other portions of the labor markets showed signs of weakening as Manufacturing Payrolls sank to a record five year low of -52,000, with the unemployment rate surprisingly falling to 4.8%. This raised the already heightened speculation that the labor market is starting to contract. If you enjoy reading this article, you’ll surely be interested in learning how to survive unemployment.

The majority of euro-earners may be celebrating after the currency hit its all-time high against the US dollar last week, but it seems to be hurting Europe’s own small businesses.

Many tend to forget that these hard times for the ailing US economy has also been tough for small businesses throughout Europe that target Americans as their primary market. In fact, many business-owners have already seen a significant revenue shrink in US sales because the swooning dollar has been losing the forex battle. European products being exported to the US are sold in dollars while their costs (raw materials and labor) remain in expensive euros. This problem is even made more complicated by the worries that Americans might refuse to buy products from them.

The euro peaked at $1.52 this week, almost 23 percent higher since it first came out in 1999. Economists claim that all euro-dominated export businesses have every reason to be worried. However, it is the tourism-oriented manufacturers that are hurting the most. If you were interested in reading this article, you’ll surely be motivated to learn how to invest in bonds to help the economy.

After tumbling to its all-time low against the euro last week, the US dollar slumped to another record low as it hit its lowest in three years today, this time against the Japanese yen.

The greenback was bid as low as 102.92 yen in Tokyo trade and then settled at 103.74 from 105.37 yesterday and 107.17 last week. This was the lowest since January 2005.

The latest record plunge happened after the Federal Reserve announced that the currency’s recent continuous decline may actually be helping the ailing US economy. However, Citigroup Global Head of Currency Strategy Tom Fitzpatrick is not convinced. “The market is disappointed by US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s comments,” he said. “They do not care about the weak dollar.”

Fitzpatrick also claimed that the record drop was the result of heightened fears that US economy may be slipping into recession as well as yields and expectations of interest cuts by the Fed.

Currency dealers added that an AIG (American International Group) weak earnings report sparked jitters about the credit market problems fallout.

Commerzbank Tokyo’s Ryohei Muramatsu said that the worries over the credit crisis is getting even stronger. He added that since the weak dollar doesn’t seem to bother the Fed, it may take quite a while for dollar to reach the 100 yen level again. If you enjoyed reading this article, you’ll surely be delighted in learning how to calculate exchange rates.