The mandate for Koizumi is stronger than many had anticipated,

All the market is talking about is Katrina, what it means and is the Fed going to pause. It's just relentless at the moment, it's just dollar selling.

The durable goods data could give us some direction but the market is pretty quiet before the big events. I don't think we'll move much before the Fed.

The market did go up a little on the news but now we're coming back down again because I think the good news is factored in,

A lot of people bought the yen following Koizumi's victory and now they're feeling the squeeze. The yen has got about as much as it was going to get from the election result and now people are taking the opportunity to sell.

After all, it wasn't a bad number. It's just that the market had positioned for something even better.

People are still digesting Friday's data and wondering whether the short-term reaction to sell the dollar was right,

It was a knee-jerk reaction after the reports of an earthquake.

It was a knee-jerk reaction after the reports of an earthquake. The logic behind the move is that a natural disaster in California could damage the U.S. economy.

The trend is very very strong -- you don't want to stand in the way of it at the moment.