jPY - The Yen Declines vs. the USD as Stocks Rebound

The Yen fell against the EUR for the first time in 4 days as a gain in stocks encouraged investors to buy higher-yielding assets funded with Japan's currency.
The JPY declined by over 1% against the EUR to 130.92 from 129.42 yesterday .The Yen also weakened earlier 1% against the Dollar to 95.99, because of selling to protect options that would become worthless should Japan's currency rise further, according to analysts.

The Yen may reverse this year's decline against the Dollar as Japan's currency succeeds the greenback as the best refuge from the financial crisis. The Japanese currency may appreciate to 92 yen by the end of the year as the link between the greenback and risk aversion deteriorates. As for today, forex traders are advised to follow the U.S. Core CPI data release at 12.30 GMT, as the results of this are highly likely to determine USD/JPY trading going into next week.

Crude Oil - Crude Rises Above $59 a Barrel

Crude Oil prices rose on Thursday, tracking a rebound on Wall Street, though a gloomy demand forecast from the International Energy Agency (IEA) limited gains.
Crude prices rose $2, or 4%, to settle at $59.53 a barrel. Oil prices continue to track equities markets as traders look to stocks for signs of an economic recovery that could lift ailing world fuel demand. The other factor that helped Oil prices yesterday was the weak Dollar, directly leading to a bullish price of Oil.

The 11 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) bound by production targets implemented 77% of planned cuts of 4.2 million barrels a day in April, down from a revised 82% for March. The cartel next meets on May 28, and is unlikely to alter production limits if prices remain strong, Iraq's oil minister said Thursday. The price of Crude may hit $65 by the end of the month if additional solid signs of an earlier-than-forecasted economic recovery become more apparent.