Forex Today: EU and UK PMIs could garner attention on Thanksgiving
Here is what you need to know on Thursday, November 23:
The US Dollar (USD) struggles to find demand early Thursday after outperforming its major rivals for two consecutive days. HCOB Manufacturing and Services PMIs from Germany and the Euro area will be featured in the European economic docket alongside the S&P Global PMIs for the UK. The European Central Bank will release the accounts of the October policy meeting as well. Stock and bond markets in the US will be closed in observance of the Thanksgiving Day holiday, possibly causing trading volumes to thin out in the second half of the day.
The data from the US revealed on Wednesday that the number of first-time application for unemployment benefits declined to 209,000 in the week ending November 17 from 233,000 in the previous week. The benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield edged higher following this data and the USD Index closed the second straight day in positive territory. In the meantime, Wall Street's main indexes registered modest gains, limiting the USD's upside later in the American session.
US Dollar price this week
The table below shows the percentage change of US Dollar (USD) against listed major currencies this week. US Dollar was the weakest against the New Zealand Dollar.
| USD | EUR | GBP | CAD | AUD | JPY | NZD | CHF | |
| USD | -0.08% | -0.52% | -0.41% | -0.87% | -0.49% | -1.02% | -0.37% | |
| EUR | 0.08% | -0.45% | -0.34% | -0.78% | -0.42% | -0.95% | -0.28% | |
| GBP | 0.51% | 0.44% | 0.11% | -0.34% | 0.04% | -0.49% | 0.15% | |
| CAD | 0.41% | 0.33% | -0.14% | -0.47% | -0.08% | -0.62% | 0.05% | |
| AUD | 0.84% | 0.79% | 0.33% | 0.43% | 0.36% | -0.17% | 0.48% | |
| JPY | 0.50% | 0.42% | -0.27% | 0.08% | -0.37% | -0.52% | 0.12% | |
| NZD | 1.01% | 0.95% | 0.51% | 0.62% | 0.18% | 0.53% | 0.67% | |
| CHF | 0.34% | 0.28% | -0.15% | -0.05% | -0.51% | -0.14% | -0.67% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the Euro from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the Japanese Yen, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent EUR (base)/JPY (quote).
The business activity in Australia's private sector continued to contract at an accelerating pace in early November, with the Judo Bank Composite PMI declining to 46.4 from 47.6 in October. AUD/USD ignored the uninspiring PMI data and gained traction in the Asian session. At the time of press, the pair was up 0.4% on the day at 0.6570.
EUR/USD posted marginal losses on Wednesday but managed to climb back above 1.0900 early Thursday. Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said that interest rates must stay high to bring inflation back to the target.
GBP/USD snapped a three-day winning streak on Wednesday but didn't have a difficult time stabilizing above 1.2500.
USD/JPY registered strong gains on Wednesday and advanced beyond 149.00 before going into a consolidation phase in the Asian session on Thursday. Early Friday, National Consumer Price Index and Jibun Bank PMI data from Japan will be watched closely by market participants.
Gold failed to hold above $2,000 on Wednesday and retreated below level while US T-bond yields edged higher in the American trading hours. In the European morning, XAU/USD clings to small gains but remains below $2,000.
Author
Eren Sengezer
FXStreet
As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.
