Conditions in US non-manufacturing sector – which accounts for approximately 70 percent of total economic activity in the country and includes retail, services, and finance – are anticipated to have deteriorated in March, as the Institute for Supply Management index is estimated to fall to 48.5 from 49.3.

In the real Great Depression of the ’30s, thousands of U.S. banks failed. How many have failed recently?

The US dollar has resumed its slide as traders give in to the Fed’s cautiousness. With Wall Street and Main Street both feeling the pain of slower growth and a depressed housing market, Bernanke warned that there could be a contraction in the US economy in the first half of the year.

The tentative dollar rebound from Tuesday was stalled today by an ominous forecast for the economy from Fed Chairman Bernanke during his testimony before Congress.

Professional system trader Art Collins shares his daily biases in the index, bonds and currency futures markets for April 2.

On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will testify on the economic outlook before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress. Bernanke’s comments tend to spark volatility not only in the forex markets, but also in the equity and fixed income markets.

The Fed's primary mission is to protect the nation’s money and credit?

Investors that have cut back on dollar denominated holdings in the Q1 are jumping back in force with Lehman Brothers raising $4 billion from a stock sale to calm investors and UBS announcing a similar plan to replenish capital.

Todd Gordon writes that the USD/JPY currency pair has broken from key 101.02 resistance and targets 101.85.

The U.K. housing market has continued to deteriorate as prices fell 0.6% in March, the fifth straight monthly decline. Therefore, expectations are that homeowners were reluctant to pull equity from their homes as its value continued to fall.