US dollar under pressure | Smart Daily Currency Note

Sterling

On the whole an okay week for sterling. It held its own against the euro, lost a little bit of ground against the commodity backed currencies; albeit midweek it had made significant gains, and gained throughout the week against the US dollar. It seems to be more of a case of what is happening elsewhere than any key UK event. Worries over quantitative easing in the US and Japan are having a significant effect on emerging markets and also on stock markets. There is limited UK data released today so again it will be a case of influence from elsewhere. Call in now to see how sterling is faring today.

Euro

The euro underwhelmed yesterday; losing nearly a cent against both sterling and the US dollar after what has otherwise been a strong week. Ground was steadily lost through the day as sterling once again tested the 1.18 level, and the euro dropped back below 1.33 against the US dollar. Today is as quiet as yesterday on the news front; will no news be good news? Call your trader now to find out if anything can buck this recent trend. 

US dollar

The US dollar has been under pressure this week as the debate on when the US will end their programme of quantitative easing dominates market thoughts. The Federal Reserve has made it clear that this is on the agenda and therefore it is just a matter of timing. This means that every piece of economic data released is examined in minutiae as commentators and investors try to forecast the likely start date. Yesterday’s retails sales data was more positive than expected which obviously helps the case for an early start date for Federal Reserve stopping their liquidity support. The key driver though will be employment and although it has stabilised we are still waiting to see a significant reduction in unemployment. Call now to see how the dollar is faring on the final day of the week.

Worldwide

Elsewhere, apart from a small slide on Wednesday morning, the Japanese yen has had a very strong week. This strong form continued throughout yesterday, concluding the largest three-day gains the yen has seen since 2008.  The catalyst for the yen strength this week has been a poor-performing Japanese stock market, which has led to nervous traders selling off stock and holding on to cash. The Canadian dollar has also had a good week, hitting a four-week high against its US counterpart yesterday. The strength was down to a run of positive data coming out of Canada, as well as a general consensus in the markets that the Canadian economy will have a good spell triggered by a healthy US economy.  After a difficult start to the week off the back of poor home loans data, the Australian dollar recovered yesterday follow better-than-forecast employment statistics. The New Zealand dollar had a fairly flat week, following the reserve bank's decision to keep interest rates fixed on Wednesday night.
Today we see Canadian manufacturing data released in the early afternoon. Get in touch to see if the results continue the Canadian dollar's rich vein of form.