Dollar Moves Strongly Against Most Currencies, Flat Against Yen

The U.S. dollar exchange rate had an interesting day on Friday. The dollar moved by roughly 1/2 of a percent against the Canadian dollar, British pound, and euro. Yet, against the yen, the dollar moved less than 1/10 of a percent.

Against the Canadian dollar, the dollar rose about 0.50%. Interday, it had formed a clear head-and-shoulders trading pattern.

Against the British pound, the dollar declined about 0.40%.

Against the euro, the dollar increased by about 0.80%.

However, against the yen, the dollar decreased by only 0.05%.

The U.S. dollar's exchange rate against the Canadian dollar may have been driven by the Canadian government's release of inflation data that fell below analysts' expectations.

While the dollar's move against the euro and pound may have been influenced by Fitch's downgrade of Greek debt.

In Japan, consumers are reducing their spending, according to a report by Bloomberg. Japanese GDP shrunk at an annualized rate of 3.7% over the last three months.

Traders looking to play these currency pairs have many options. CurrencyShares Canadian Dollar Trust (NYSE: FXC) might be one such option. FXC attempts to correspond in value to the Canadian dollar and may do well if the Canadian dollar rallies. Traders could also consider CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust (NYSE: FXY) which tries to correspond to the Japanese yen.