Asian session: The dollar fell against most major peers amid speculation Federal Reserve Chairman

The dollar fell against most major peers amid speculation Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will hint at further monetary easing in testimony today. Bernanke will deliver his semiannual report on the economy and monetary policy to the Senate Banking Committee. He will testify to the House Financial Services Committee tomorrow.

The greenback slid for a third day versus the euro after an unexpected drop in U.S. retail sales rekindled prospects the Fed will introduce additional steps to support the world’s largest economy. A Labor Department report may show today that the consumer- price index was unchanged last month from May when it slid 0.3 percent, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. U.S. retail sales fell 0.5 percent in June, Commerce Department figures showed yesterday, whereas economists had forecast a 0.2 percent gain..

The 17-nation euro was 0.2 percent from the lowest in more than three years against the pound before German data that may signal deteriorating investor confidence.

The ZEW Center for European Economic Research may say today that its index of German investor and analyst expectations slid to minus 20 this month, according to the median estimate of economists. That would be the lowest since January and down from minus 16.9 in June. The gauge aims to predict economic developments six months in advance.

Australia’s dollar climbed as Asian stocks rose and after the Reserve Bank released today minutes of this month’s meeting

EUR / USD: during the Asian session the pair rose to $ 1.2300.

GBP / USD: during the Asian session the pair grew up, updating the weekly maximum.

USD / JPY: during the Asian session the pair rose to Y 79.00.

ECB Governing Council member Erkki Liikanen is due to meet European Commissioner for Internal Markets Michel Barnier today, although scheduled European events start at 0600GMT with ACEA new car

registrations data, shortly followed at 0610GMT by the GFK measure of German consumer confidence. At 0730GMT, the Riksbank delivers the minutes from it's July 3rd Monetary Policy Meeting. The main European

data release for Tuesday is German ZEW data, due at 0900GMT Expectations are mixed, but median forecasts look for the expectations index to slip to a reading of -20.0, while the median forecast for the

current situation index looks for a slip to 31.2. Also at 0900GMT, ECB Governing Council member Luis Linde is due to present the Bank of Spain's Annual Report to the Committee on Economy and Competitiveness,

in Madrid.

UK data at 0830GMT sees inflation data for June. These data are set to show inflation running comfortably below the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee's forecast for Q2.Staying in the UK, at 0900GMT, the Bank of England's King, Tucker, Kohn,and Turner give evidence to a Treasury Select Committee on the Financial Stability Report.

US data starts at 1145GMT with the weekly ICSC-Goldman Store Sales data, while at 1230GMT, US consumer prices are forecast to hold steady in June, as energy prices remained soft. This followed a 0.3%

decline for overall CPI in May. The weekly Redbook Average follows at 1255GMT, followed at 1300GMT by

Treasury International Capital System (TICS) data. The Bank of Canada gives it's monetary policy announcement at 1300GMT and is expected to leave rates unchanged, although markets will also be eyeing any statement for a potential softening of the recent tightening bias.At 1315GMT, industrial production is expected to rise 0.3% in June after falling slightly in May. Capacity utilization is forecast to rise to 79.1% in June. At 1400GMT, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke delivers his semi-annual monetary policy report to the Senate Banking Committee. US data also rounds off at 1400GMT with the July Housing Market Index from the NAHB.