Forex Today: Dollar retains its strength ahead of a long weekend

Valeria Bednarik FXStreet

What you need to take care of on Friday, April 15:

The American dollar was once again firmly up, giving up some of its recent gains ahead of the close as speculative interest booked some profits ahead of the Good Friday holiday.

The EUR/USD pair plummeted to 1.0765, its lowest in two years, following the European Central Bank monetary policy decision. The ECB kept rates on hold as widely anticipated and repeated that it would end its bond-buying program in the third quarter of the year. Monthly net purchases will amount to €40 billion in April, €30 billion in May and €20 billion in June.

The statement was quite dovish, as it noted that Russia's aggression is affecting the economies in Europe and beyond. Higher energy and commodity prices are affecting demand and slowing production, which results in higher inflation. Also, trade disruptions are leading to new shortages of materials and inputs, another factor weighing on prices pressure. President Christine Lagarde said it was “premature” to discuss quantitative tightening, adding that rate hikes could begin “sometime after” the end of the APP program.

The GBP/USD pair settled around 1.3070, down for the day but off intraday lows. Commodity-linked currencies, on the other hand, finished the day near their daily lows against the greenback. AUD/USD trades in the 0.7410 price zone, while USD/CAD hovers around 1.2615. Finally, the USD/JPY pair settled around 125.90.

US Federal Reserve officials were on the wires. New York Federal Reserve President John Williams said that the central bank should reasonably consider hiking by 50 bps in May, while Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester noted that the Fed aims to reduce policy accommodation at the pace necessary to control inflation whilst also sustaining economic activity.

Inflation-related concerns pushed US government bond yields towards their recent multi-year highs. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note peaked at 2.835%, now standing at 2.82%.

Wall Street kick-started the day with a positive tone but gave up ahead of the close. The three major indexes ended the day with losses.

Most financial markets will be closed until Monday amid the Good Friday Holiday.

Litecoin rebounds but stays below a downside resistance line

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Author

Valeria Bednarik

FXStreet

Valeria Bednarik was born and lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her passion for math and numbers pushed her into studying economics in her younger years.

EUR/USD deflates to fresh lows, targets 1.1600

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GBP/USD breaks below 1.3400, challenges the 200-day SMA

GBP/USD remains under heavy fire and retreats for the fourth consecutive day on Friday. Indeed, Cable suffers the strong performance of the Greenback, intensified post-mixed NFP, and trades at shouting distance from its critical 200-day SMA near 1.3380.

Gold flirts with yearly tops around $4,500

Gold keeps its positive bias on Friday, adding to Thursday’s advance and challenging yearly highs in the $4,500 region per troy ounce. The risk-off sentiment favours the yellow metal despite the firmer tone in the Greenback and rising US Treasury yields.