This is what you need to know to trade today friday february 17:
Supported by encouraging macroeconomic data releases and hawkish comments from Fed officials, the US dollar continued to gain strength against its rivals and the US Dollar Index (USD) hit its highest level since early January. above 104.00 on Friday. In the absence of high-profile releases, markets will pay close attention to central bank statements ahead of the weekend.
The European Central Bank will publish the current account figures for December. Export and import price indices for January will be on the US economic calendar. Statistics Canada is to publish January figures for the Industrial Goods and Commodity Price Index.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Thursday that the core Producer Price Index had dipped slightly from 5.5% to 5.4% in January, but this reading was well above market expectations of 4.9%.0 In addition, the Labor Department report revealed that there were fewer than 200,000 initial claims for unemployment benefits for the fifth week in a row.
For her part, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said the Fed will have to break above 5% rates and stay there for a while as it has more work to do to control inflation. Similarly, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said continued interest rate hikes may help set a “disinflationary trend” through 2023. On Thursday, the US Treasury yield The 10-year rose more than 1% for the third day in a row and continued to rise as high as 3.9% early Friday, helping the dollar outperform its rivals.
In his second day of hearings, Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Philip Lowe reiterated on Friday that the board expects further hikes to be necessary in the coming months. This comment did not help the Australian dollar find demand during Asian trading hours and the AUD/USD It is now trading at its lowest level in five weeks below 0.6850.
“If evidence begins to mount that inflation is not declining as forecast, we stand ready to raise the policy rate further,” Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said, speaking before the Committee. Permanent Finance on Thursday. The pair USD/CAD It showed no immediate reaction to Macklem’s remarks and posted strong gains for the second day in a row on Thursday. The pair maintains its bullish momentum and advances towards 1.3500 early on Friday.
He NZD/USD remains lower and retreats towards 0.6200. New Zealand Finance Minister Grant Robertson said earlier in the day that there were signs that inflation had peaked.
He EUR/USD it closed below 1.0700 on Thursday and failed to stage a bounce, pressured by broad-based US dollar strength. The pair is trading below 1.0650 early Friday. Producer prices in Germany moderated to 17.8% yoy in January from 21.6% in December, versus the market forecast of 16.4%.
He GBP/USD it broke below 1.2000 and touched its lowest level since January 6 at 1.1930 early Friday. Reports suggesting speculation that a UK-US deal on the Northern Ireland Protocol was imminent did not help sterling hold firm against the dollar. The UK Office for National Statistics reported on Friday that retail sales increased 0.5% monthly in January. This result exceeded market expectations, which expected a decline of 0.3%, but failed to trigger a bullish reaction in the pair.
He USD/JPY extended its rally in the Asian session and hit its highest level since late December above 134.50.
Although the XAU/USD managed to close flat on Thursday, came under bearish pressure again as US bond yields rose early on Friday. The price of gold it lost more than 0.5% on the day and settled at $1,825.
On Thursday, the Bitcoin it topped $25,000 for the first time since August, but did a sharp U-turn during US trading hours and posted a daily loss of almost 4%. The BTC/USD pair moved up and down in a narrow channel above $23,500. ethereum failed to take advantage of Wednesday’s impressive gains and closed below $1,700. In the early European morning, the ETH/USD pair was up almost 1% and was around $1,650.
Source: Fx Street
I am Joshua Winder, a senior-level journalist and editor at World Stock Market. I specialize in covering news related to the stock market and economic trends. With more than 8 years of experience in this field, I have become an expert in financial reporting.
