On Friday the US Dollar climbed to a nine-year high versus other major currencies, prior to US manufacturing data report release. On account of the recent US data, expectations were increased for the Fed to raise interest rate in the near future, supporting the currency. The Greenback index gained 0.55% to 91.14, the highest since 2005, while EUR/USD hit the
The Russian ruble got closer to the worst annual decline since 1998 as government interventions suffered a setback in strengthening its currency. This year the Ruble was the worst performing currency, losing 42% of its value, due to Western sanctions and low oil prices, which pushed Russia's economy into recession. Government bonds weakened a lot in emerging markets, with the
Oil dropped to the lowest since 2009 due to speculation that US crude inventories will remain at the highest level in 30 years. US futures for the commodity declined 1.7%, while stockpiles are expected to stay at 387.2 million barrels for the week ended December 26. Black Gold slid 46% for the past year, close to its largest annual decline
As oil becomes more affordable, the European households are starting to spend more. According to Jens Weidmann, Bundesbank President, this may act as a positive factor for the Euro zone economy and thus could decrease the chance of the QE by the ECB. Still, many officials of the monetary authority remain worried regarding the slow inflation and say the European
China is ready to support Russian currency with the help of currency swaps, as the Rouble lost 59% of its value against the US Dollar due to a drop of the crude oil price and European sanctions. Today the Rouble appreciated 3.48% against the Greenback, reaching the level of 56.764 at the moment of writing.
Canada Retail sales decreased in October, as the number of cars sold is diminished and the activity at the pumps reduced. Economists expect a drop of 0.3% in October, followed by an increase of 0.8%, the biggest one since June, while they expect a growth of 0.2% in October of the Core Retail sales.
The bank of Japan adopts high stimulus, as Kuroda wants to avoid an increase in inflation amid the collapse of Oil's price. Economists expect the central bank nudges the monetary base of 80 trillion Yen- annual rate. The Yen depreciates 0.4% versus the US Dollar since 11 GMT, reaching the level of 119.27.
The Greenback appreciates against the Euro, reaching the strongest level in a week, as Janet Yellen announced the Fed may increase interest rates if it met the economic parameters imposed. The US Dollar increased 0.2 versus the Euro, reaching the level of $1.2314 while the Greenback fell 0.1% against the Yen, trading at 118.5, the biggest step up since the
The Swiss Franc has weakened after Switzerland's central bank surprised the markets by announcing it would impose negative interest rates of 0.25% on commercial bank deposits. The Swiss National Bank decision depends on the Russia financial crisis and on the further Eurozone easing measures, as they stress the Franc.
A day after the central bank made an unexpected move to increase the key rate from 10.5 to 17%, sending the Rouble in a free-fall on Tuesday, the Russian currency begins to negate the recent losses. As of 14:26 GMT today the Rouble has managed to strengthen 7.28% against the US Dollar.
Brent crude oil dipped under $63 today, the lowest level since the summer of 2009. Among the quoted reasons are oversupply of the commodity and dim prospects for demand recovery in the future. During this week the price has already given up 9%, while during the last six months the decline amounts to as much as 45%.
The pressure on the Chinese's central bank to intensify the monetary stimulus is rising, as the industrial output showed weaker growth than expected. While the economists expected a 7.6% expansion, the reading came out at 7.2%, a 0.5 percentage point decrease from 7.7% recorded in October.
Though at first the single European currency fell to 1.2414 amid the discouraging news on the German and particularly French inflation, it then pared most of the losses in view of the new targeted long-term refinancing operation (TLTRO). Since the banks took from the ECB nearly as much funds as estimated (130 billion euros), EUR/USD continued to trade near today's open
Despite the employment change surprising to the upside (42.7K against 15.2K expected), the unemployment rate in Australia reached its 12-year high. As a result, as of 12:22 GMT, the Australian Dollar lost 0.59% on Thursday against its US counterpart.
The Euro negated today's early gains against the US Dollar after the currency started the day strong, reaching the level of $1.2400. This weakness is largely attributed to the uncertainty ahead of two ECB members' speeches and to the disappointing France industrial production data.
Economists expect China to adopt monetary easing policy in order to recover and gain its credibility once again, as the deflation deepened and the CPI's pace of growth reached the slowest level since 2009 – 1.4% in November against the increase of 1.6% in October. Moreover, the producer price index fell to 2.7% in November from the previous year.
As it turned out, the economists underestimated the headwinds the manufacturing in the United Kingdom is currently facing. While the grow was expected to slow down to 0.2% from 0.6%, the secondary sector unexpectedly contracted 0.7%, the first negative reading since July.
The Australian business sentiment fell to the lowest level since last Australian's election, as the economists expect to see the interest rates cut two times throughout 2015. According to the NAB survey, the confidence index decreased to 1 from 5 in November and the business condition indicator dropped from 13 to 5.
China's trade surplus climbed to a record $54.47 billion in November against the expected $43.95 billion due to unexpected decline in imports on lower crude oil prices. However, the record level of the surplus is followed by weaker than expected data both on exports and imports. Overseas shipments rose 4.7% from a year earlier, missing the 8% estimate, while imports fell 6.7%,
The Canadian employment data are better than the forecast, as the unemployment rate dropped at 6.5%, the lowest level in 6 years. During the month of September the Canada gained 43.1K jobs, divided in full time employment 26.5K and part time 16.5K. The Canadian Dollar fell to 1.1346 versus the Greenback.
The UK currency shrank 0.12% against the US Dollar, reaching the level of $1.5653 at the moment of writing, while the non-farm payroll report of the world's largest economy will influence the direction of the currency pair. Economists expect 230,000 workers to be added to the US's workforce, with the stable unemployment rate at 5.8% for the previous month.
The German economic data showed a recovery from the low numbers of the second quarter, as the domestic investment demand changed positively. As a consequence of emerging from a mid-year drop, the German factory orders climbed 2.5% in October following the increase of 1.1% in September, exceeding the economists forecast for the period.
The Euro depreciated against the US Dollar amid the Euro area inflation coming in line with the expectations of a 0.3% increase in the price level. So fay today the Euro has fallen 0.09% versus Greenback, reaching $1.2454.
Italian unemployment rate grew a third month in a row, reaching a level of 13.2% for the month of October against a forecast of 12.6%. Meanwhile, Matteo Renzi, Italian Prime Minister, is struggling to solve the problem of high unemployment by implementing reforms to make the labour market less rigid than it currently is. However, the official is facing strong