Chuck Butler, regular analyst at The Daily Reckoning, offers an analysis of why the ‘Audit the Fed’ amendment to a $200 billion deficit plan spooked the currencies markets this week.

Chuck Butler (The Daily Reckoning): As I checked the currencies throughout the day yesterday, I noticed that as the day went on, the non-dollar currencies were stronger, led by the Big Dog, euro (EUR)… But then late last night, and I mean late last night, I checked them, and those gains had been wiped out.

So, when I arrived here this morning, I had one thing on the top of my list of things to do, and that was to find out what happened… Come on, I said to myself, it had to be more than the “risk on, risk off” stuff that’s been hanging over the markets like the Sword of Damocles! But, when you

Chuck Butler (The Daily Reckoning): What a ride yesterday for the currencies! Gold? Well, at one point gold had shot up $24 on the day! It topped out at $1,142… The shiny metal then gave some back on profit taking, but gold holders have got to love it! Those who keep waiting for a pullback. Well, they might still be waiting when the cows come home.

Yesterday, we had a couple of Fed Heads talking, but the Big Kahuna stood out and moved the markets with his statements… Here’s the skinny…

Big Ben was giving a speech, and said, “The Fed will monitor closely the currencies, and the Fed’s policies will ensure that the dollar is strong.” Now, when he first uttered those words, the dollar got bought and the non-dollar currencies were sold… But then, a few of us had this feeling… It was a feeling that we

Pandora’s Box of rate hikes is opened! Is the dollar being removed from oil trades? Deficits do matter, eh? Gold heads toward its all-time high…And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Terrific Tuesday to you! A Tuesday morning that is seeing a HUGE currency rally VS the dollar on the news that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) opted to go ahead and hike rates now, and not wait for November’s meeting,

The dollar remains well bid…G-7 to hand currencies off to G-20? Car Sales collapse…Auditing the Lehman cash movements…And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Happy Friday to one and all! Yesterday, I welcomed you to October. I had been prepared to tell you about a famous radio station here in St. Louis, that has long called October… Rocktober… But forgot, as usual! But anyway… It’s the first Fantastico Friday of Rocktober!

Today is a Jobs Jamboree Friday too! And… I’m not getting a good feeling about today’s labor report at the Jobs Jamboree. The forecast is for jobs losses to fall from -216,000 to -175,000, but the unemployment rate to tick up to 9.8% from 9.7%… I got the feeling, baby, baby, I got the feeling… Oops, a little James Brown on Fantastico Friday never hurts! But what I was saying was I’m getting the feeling that there are risks

Currencies rebound VS the dollar…Aussie and kiwi lead the currencies higher…Data and Central Bank speeches today…Gold rebounds back to $1,000! And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Wonderful Wednesday to you… Instead of a “turn around Tuesday”, we’re seeing a whiplash Wednesday! And for once in a month of Sundays, the Big Dog, euro didn’t lead the other little dogs (currencies) off the porch to chase the dollar down the street!

No… This time it was the currencies of Australia and New Zealand that led the charge VS the dollar… The euro has taken up the charge since opening the doors to a new day of trading in Europe, so… It looks like it’s a “take the dollar to the woodshed day”…

OK… Let’s start first with the goings on yesterday and then build to a big crescendo! Yeah, right, like I can do that! HA! Any way…

As a reminder, yesterday we

A bias to buy dollars remains…Looks like coordinated jawboning…Fujii now talks about intervening! Gold remains below $1,000…And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Terrific Tuesday to you! Well… Stop the presses… You know the presses that are talking about the countries that are on the docket to begin a rate hike cycle, because… Russia has thrown a cat among the pigeons this morning with a rate CUT… Let me tell you why this is a big deal…

Well, when everyone is thinking that the G0-GO countries of Norway, Australia, and Brazil will probably begin their rate hike cycles this year, and other won’t be far behind… While the U.S. drags its feet and wallows in the zero rate mud… The thinking was that the rate differentials to the dollar would begin to widen, causing even more pain for the dollar. And, the reason these countries were able to raise rates

Dollar’s rally is cut short…Major problems for loans still exist…Yen rallies on exporter repatriation…Kiwi gets whacked! And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Happy Friday to one and all! It’s still raining here in St. Louis this morning, but I won’t that get me down, as it is a Friday! G-20 has gotten a bit ugly, folks… Seems everyone just can’t seem to get along! Imagine that! 20 different countries, and now they want to be able to watch another country’s finances and comment on them! Oh, I can see that working out real well! NOT!

So… Yesterday, we had the dollar gaining back the ground that it had lost the previous day, but at the end of the day, we’re looking very much like the currencies hadn’t moved from morning to morning… And overnight, didn’t bring about much movement… So… When you get to the currency round-up below, you’ll

A Wild and Wacky Wednesday…FOMC leave stimulus and QE in place…Will G-20 try to throw cold water on commodities? GATA receives a letter from the Fed…And Now… Today’s Pfennig

Good day… And a Thunderin’ Thursday to you! It’s Thundering and raining here, so I felt that naming today a “Thunderin’ Thursday” was bang on! We had a wild and wacky Wednesday yesterday, with the Fed Heads playing the part of the court jester… And… I want to know, right here, right now, why the media isn’t blasting Fed Head Honcho Big Ben Bernanke! I’ll tell you why they should be, in a minute…

OK… As I said, we had a wild and wacky Wednesday yesterday, as

Non-dollar currencies give back very little…The Unemployed are remaining unemployed… FOMC puts away the board games today… China invokes a “Public Morals” defense…

The dollar pushes back! FOMC plays battleship? Norges Bank meets this week…Precious metals give back too…And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Marvelous Monday to you! Here we go… Starting a new week all over again… I have a blank page to start each day, and then 2 hours later… The Fabulous Pfennig! A work of art, I must say! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Well… Recall on Friday, I said that the non-dollar currencies would probably just follow whatever the stocks did, since the data cupboard was empty? Well, the non-dollar currencies didn’t even follow that theme, as stocks pretty much wallowed around in the mud all day… The dollar began to push back at the gains the other currencies had made during