American consumers are buying less from the rest of the world.  This leaves less U.S. money in the hands of foreign central banks, and less reason for them to inflate their own currencies.

The Federal Reserve and Treasury Secretary Paulson are doing everything possible to try to lead the US dollar to strengthen. Indeed, FOMC members such as Chairman Bernanke and Vice Chairman Kohn have harped upon inflation pressures, suggesting that the central bank my raise interest rates.

US Advance Retail Sales are expected to jump 0.5 percent in May after slipping 0.2 percent during the month prior, and excluding autos, the figure should be even stronger at a robust 0.7 percent pace. Since this index is not adjusted for inflation, rocketing food and oil prices are likely to be the primary driver for the increase.

Professional system trader Art Collins shares his daily biases in the index, bonds and currency futures markets for June 11.

Fortune magazine reports that Warren Buffett has bet a hedge fund management business that it will not outperform the S&P 500 over the next 10 years.

There has been a lot of speculation about the possibility of currency intervention in the US dollar. In the past year alone, the US dollar has fallen 15 percent in value against the euro, 18 percent against the Swiss franc and 13 percent against the Japanese yen.

Professional system trader Art Collins shares his daily biases in the index, bonds and currency futures markets for June 10.

In the war between inflation and deflation, Friday was a bloody day.

Today, we have to look at the unemployment numbers, and the connection between the credit crisis and the rise in oil of about $16 dollars a barrel in just two days.

Professional system trader Art Collins shares his daily biases in the index, bonds and currency futures markets for June 9.