The surprise this week in the Forex markets is the inability of the U.S. Dollar to attract fresh investors given the escalating problems in the Middle East and North Africa. With crude oil and gold rising as traders take protection, many traders thought the Greenback would benefit from flight-to-safety buying.

The U.S. Dollar is trading higher against most major currencies this morning. Short-covering ahead of the release of today’s Fed Minutes is the catalyst behind the rally.

In what may be developing into a series of bad reports like the U.S., China reported more economic weakness overnight, triggering rallies in both the Dollar and the Japanese Yen. The moves into these so-called “safer currencies” suggests that investors are turning risk averse once again, leading to tremendous sell-offs in risky assets.

Investor sentiment is up this morning, driving U.S. stock index futures higher in the wake of strong earnings results from European banking giants UBS and Deutsche Bank. Investors are also buying in anticipation of strong earnings results from Aetna, Inc., Anadarko Petroleum Corp., DuPont and Lockheed although banking stocks are expected to carry the market today.