Martin Weal, policy maker for the Bank of England, announced that the United Kingdom is in threat of falling into a second recession. When the London based Times and numerous other reports came out about Weal’s statement, forex trading investors faced some of their worst fears and the pound fell against the dollar. The GBP/USD pair traded at a low of 1.5372 and a high of 1.5505.

In the Euro zone, indexes and commodities weakened by quite large margins, causing investors to favor more stable currencies such as the dollar and the yen. The EUR/USD pair traded at a low of 1.2587 and a high of 1.2719.

In Japan, the yen hit a 15-year high against the dollar, boosted by positive trade balance data. The USD/JPY pair traded at a low of 83.59 and a high of 85.15.

The US dollar was able to gain against most majors as existing home sales data fell to a 15-year low. NASDAQ and Dow Jones both weakened along with crude oil, which closed at $71.36 per barrel. Gold was able to gain and close at $1,233.4 per ounce.