The major theme of this week was speeches of various Federal Reserve members and, most importantly, Chairman Ben Bernanke. Comments of policy makers did not help to understand when the central bank is going to end quantitative easing. The confusion resulted in a mixed performance of the US dollar.

The Japanese yen ended Friday with gains as risk aversion attracted investors to the perceived safety of the currency, allowing the yen to move away from multi-year lows that it has reached recently.

The Canadian dollar fell today as commodities declined on talks that riskier assets have gained too much in the previous days. Such speculations reduced the appeal of currencies tied to performance of raw materials.

The Swiss franc retreated today after jumping yesterday on risk aversion, but retained most of its gains. Additionally, the currency advanced versus the yen, against which it fell yesterday.

Canadian dollar is experiencing very choppy trading today, moving between gains and losses against major counterparts as traders and investors try to figure out what to do next.

The Japanese yen climbed today, posting the biggest gain against the euro in five weeks, as Chinese manufacturing and speculations about the future monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve made investors nervous and unwilling to risk.

The Australian dollar slumped today, reaching the lowest level in a year against the US dollar, as China’s manufacturing contracted this month and the US Federal Reserve hinted that quantitative easing may be reduced.

The US dollar was volatile today as Forex market participants were trying to interpret the words of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and to guess whether the central bank will remove stimulus.

Euro is gaining ground today, heading higher as Ben Bernanke’s testimony to Congress gets under way. Expectations of loose monetary policy in the United States are helping the euro today.

The US dollar fell against the euro today on speculations that the Federal Reserve will maintain its stimulus program. The currency edged higher versus the Great Britain pound and the Japanese yen.