The US dollar slightly weakened against a basket of major currencies. Investors’ attention is focused on the trade conflict between the US and China. Advisors to the President of the United States, Donald Trump, said that he did not intend to soften the hard line in trading with China, only if the country would buy more American goods. The US dollar index (#DX) closed in the negative zone (-0.17).
The British pound strengthened again relative to the US dollar. It seems that financial market participants hope that the UK will be able to avoid a chaotic exit from the European Union without an agreement. However, the future of Brexit is still unknown. The Government of Germany does not rule out the postponement of the Brexit.
Yesterday, the Canadian dollar weakened against the US currency after the publication of a weak report on retail sales. Thus, the core retail sales index declined by -0.6 in November, while experts expected a decline of 0.4%. Retail sales also fell by 0.9% in November instead of 0.6%. Today, during the Asian trading session, optimistic data on the Australian labor market have been published: employment level rose to 21.6K in December instead of 16.5K, and unemployment level fell to 5.0% in December instead of the expected 5.1%.
The “black gold” prices show negative dynamics. At the moment, futures for the WTI crude oil are testing the mark of $52.45 per barrel. At 18:00 (GMT+2:00), a report on crude oil inventories will be published in the US.
Market Indicators
- Yesterday, the main US stock indices were recovering: #SPY (+0.21%), #DIA (+0.70%), #QQQ (+0.13%).
- The 10-year US government bonds yield is at the level of 2.74-2.75%.
The News Feed on 24.01.2019:
- German manufacturing PMI at 10:30 (GMT+2:00);
- ECB interest rate decision at 14:45 (GMT+2:00);
- Markit composit PMI in the US at 16:45 (GMT+2:00).
