Using US$ index to trade news announcements?

If you have real time US$ index information, would knowing it be
beneficial in trading major news announcements, such as NFP, and
if so, how do you utilize that information to help determine true
market direction just before or after announcements are made?
Does anyone know of any web-sites that offer free or inexpensive
realtime US$ index information?

I keep an eye on the Dollar Index (_DXY) with a free demo account using Metatrader at Alpari “ http://www.alpari-idc.com/ “ They also maintain an Oil Index (_CL).
Others who offer the Metatrader platform may also have these indexes but this is the only one I am aware of.

I am just learning about markets so I have no specifics about how to best use this information.

Hap

Dollar index goes up, then USDCHF will go up with it and EURUSD would go down, and the opposite is true if DXY goes down.

JohnFX

and also if oil is going up cad/jpy is going up. Additionaly you will have swaps. Futures doesnt have swaps it is additional plus to currency trading.

does oil move before the cad pairs move?

I came to this thread after searching for any info on the USD Index and the possibility for incorporating it in the trade-day decisions if it makes sense to do so... So my question is... Does it, or can the real time info of the DXY (USD Index) assist in the process? When i put it next to my usd paired charts it looks like it's just another chart! It goes up, down, and sideways ; - ) . Can it yeild any beneficial info if one' focus in on currency trading?

Thanks in advance for any reply!
Thom

dxy (us$ index) is not a leading indicator and it will not tell you anything before the news announcement. US$ is a weighted index, though it will help determine the trend in the long run