The USD performance scored impressively high during yesterday’s N.Y. trade. Moving into a festive season and a very calm market, what is bound to shake the waters, is next week’s FOMC announcement. Please see below how some of the currency pairs performed yesterday:
[B]EUR/USD[/B] - After ECB’s board member Praet suggested possible purchase reductions of sovereign debt, the pair jumped up from 1.3748 lows to 1.3798 which didn’t last long, as anticipation for the US Data caused the pair to gradually lose ground. After positive US Retail Sales, it took a dive into 1.3760 levels and started to weaken ever since, currently trading steadily around 1.3750 (08:00 GMT). Failure to bounce back up, probably means, we may see the pair lose even more ground until next week’s FOMC meeting.
[B]GBP/USD[/B] - After the positive U.S. Retail Sales data, the pair gave up on the 1.64 grip and hit lows of 1.6321, now trading at 1.6338 (08:00 GMT).
[B]USD/JPY[/B] - Even though yesterday the pair started trading at low levels of 102.38 it started to bounce up throughout the day, especially after the positive outcome of the U.S. retail sales data. USD/JPY found some resistance at 103.00 (Japanese Exporters were said to be on the offer) but soon broke over that and climbed highs of 103.20, gradually rising up ever since, currently trading at 103.58 (08:00 GMT) after reaching new highs of 103.90 at 04:30 GMT.
[B]USD/CAD[/B] - While the pair traded lower around 1.0560 during morning hours yesterday, it later recovered to 1.0615 after the mixed results of the U.S. and Canadian data (13:30 GMT). The pair kept climbing up reaching 1.0654, and currently trades at 1.0643 (08:00 GMT). With higher U.S. yields, tempering oil and gold prices, as well as prospects for Fed tapering, there is probably little stopping the USD/CAD from rising up to the good old 1.0700 levels.