Dollar: Bernanke Takes The Stage

Risk aversion has taken hold of the financial markets today with currencies and equities sliding across the board. The U.S. dollar strengthened against every major currency except for the Japanese Yen which confirms that flight to quality has driven investors into the safety of U.S. dollars. The biggest losers were the commodity currencies which fell victim to the sharp slide in oil and gold prices. Weaker economic data from the U.S. and the Eurozone weighed on the markets for most of the trading day and it will now be up to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to restore confidence.