Fundamental data over the past couple of weeks have been persistently weak, however, the Fed is blaming bad weather conditions and only, while also hinting the guidance can be revised soon.
The shared currency was dragged down by disappointing figures from Spain, while another set of stronger-than-excepted data from Europe's powerhouse pushed it slightly higher.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand will meet on March 12 to assess the domestic economy and make a decision whether to start raising interest rates, becoming the first developed country to do so or to prolong a period of accommodative monetary policy.
The U.S. Dollar– Swiss Franc cross has been moving towards strong support at 0.8853, suggesting the pair can be highly volatile soon, keeping in mind two possible scenarios– a penetration of the level and a bounce back.
Trade, consumer spending and investment boosted Britain's economy to a fourth straight quarter of solid growth, suggesting the recovery is getting more balanced and broader-based, supporting the case for the rate hike.
Statistics from the labour market, housing sector, consumer spending, industrial production and the number of building permits– they all have been soft in the recent months.
Will Germany be able to push the growth in the whole region and ease pressure on Mario Draghi, who is looking for alternative measures of stimulating growth?
During the last policy meeting RBNZ Governor Wheeler reiterated his pledge to start increasing interest rates soon, also mentioning the necessity to gather more information in order to asses the economy's outlook in March, bolstering the case of March's rate hike.
Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda is keen on simple, easily digestible language to explain complex monetary policy and central bank's actions to support growth.
The U.K. economy is expanding; however, the recovery is considered to be unbalanced, as growth was mostly led by a steep decline in the household savings rate, hence future prospects can be cautious and treated carefully.
Is it just severe weather conditions that weighed on the U.S. economy in the last months or it is a more complicated issue that should not be shrugged off by the Fed?
The single currency received a strong bullish impetus on Tuesday that pushed EUR/USD to 1.3763. The pair is approaching a strong resistance at 1.3773, and in case it is breached 1.3712 will be put on the map.
Market sentiment (55% bullish) suggests the USD/CAD currency pair will continue challenging this year's high at 1.1225, even though for the time being the pair struggles to go higher, trading at 1.1110.
While the Japanese Yen was trading higher on Monday amid risk aversion on the financial markets that was caused by weak stocks, more trouble for the Yen and Japanese economy in general can come later this year.
The central bank failed to convince investors once again. Following BoE's Governor's comments the cable bounced back from 1.6599 and rocketed to 1.6661, with the next resistance located at 1.6694.
Less than one month was required for Janet Yellen in her new positions as the Fed Chairman to win her first serious battle, supporting the case she is the right person to replace Ben Bernanke.
The single currency continued its upside movement on Monday, with the EUR/USD pair moving closer to this year's high, following slightly stronger-than-expected Europe's inflation data and improved sentiment across German companies.
The Euro and the greenback were two the most attractive currencies for investors last week, with such crosses like EUR/SEK, USD/SEK, USD/RUB and EUR/CAD soaring 1.93%, 1.89%, 1.75% and 1.64% over the last five trading days.
The USD/CAD currency pair fell to 1.1130 after the release of the stronger-than-expected inflation data in Canada, while disappointing retail figures were not able to stop loonie's appreciation.
Minutes from the latest BoJ meeting showed the central bank is not going to rule out the possibility of early additional stimulus if the domestic economy show signs of stumbling.
Retail sales are considered to be highly volatile, hence, the figure should differ significantly from the expected value in order to have a strong market impact, even though retail sales is a primary gauge of consumer spending, which represents the majority of overall economic activity.
Disappointing data does not have any influence on the Federal Reserve.
Rating Services Standard & Poor's rating agency trimmed Ukraine's sovereign credit rating to ‘CCC' also giving the negative outlook, cutting its from the stable outlook and ‘B-' rating.
Earlier this year RBNZ Governor Wheeler reiterated his pledge to start increasing interest rates soon, also mentioning he requires more information in order to asses the economy's outlook in March, bolstering the case of March's rate hike.