Forex Today: Indecisive action in currency markets continues
Here is what you need to know on Friday, February 9:
The US Dollar (USD) gathered strength against its rivals on Thursday as US yields stretched higher. The lack of risk aversion, as reflected by the resilience of US stock indexes, however, made it difficult for the currency to outperform its rivals later in the day. There won't be any high-tier data releases from the Euro area nor the US on Friday. Statistics Canada will release January jobs report in the early American session.
Canada Jobs Report Preview: Unemployment rate forecast to rise.
The USD Index holds steady slightly above 104.00 in the European morning on Friday and the 10-year US T-bond yield moves sideways at around 4.15%. After Wall Street's main indexes registered small gains on Thursday, US stock index futures trade marginally lower.
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 | 0.04% | 0.00% | -0.09% | 0.03% | 0.56% | -1.09% | 0.86% | |
| EUR | -0.04% | -0.04% | -0.13% | -0.02% | 0.52% | -1.13% | 0.82% | |
| GBP | 0.00% | 0.04% | -0.09% | 0.03% | 0.56% | -1.08% | 0.86% | |
| CAD | 0.10% | 0.14% | 0.09% | 0.12% | 0.65% | -1.00% | 0.95% | |
| AUD | -0.03% | 0.02% | -0.02% | -0.12% | 0.54% | -1.11% | 0.83% | |
| JPY | -0.57% | -0.53% | -0.58% | -0.65% | -0.53% | -1.67% | 0.30% | |
| NZD | 1.08% | 1.12% | 1.08% | 0.99% | 1.10% | 1.63% | 1.93% | |
| CHF | -0.87% | -0.83% | -0.88% | -0.97% | -0.84% | -0.30% | -1.97% |
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).
Markets expect the Unemployment Rate in Canada to tick up to 5.9% in January and see the Net Change in Employment coming in at +15K following December's uninspiring 0.1K increase. USD/CAD fluctuates at around 1.3450 ahead of the labor market data.
EUR/USD staged a rebound in the second half of the day on Thursday and to close virtually unchanged. The pair fluctuates in a tight channel below 1.0800 early Friday. Italy's Industrial Output data for December will be released later in the European session. Meanwhile, Germany's Destatis confirmed that the annual Consumer Price Index rose 2.9% in January.
Following a two-day rebound, GBP/USD lost its bullish momentum on Thursday and registered small losses. Nevertheless, the pair holds steady above 1.2600 in the early European session on Friday.
USD/JPY rose sharply on Thursday and touched its highest level since late November above 149.00. The pair stays in a consolidation phase below 149.50 to begin the last trading day of the week.
Gold struggled to make a decisive move in either direction for the second straight day on Thursday. In the European session on Friday, XAU/USD continues to move up and down in a narrow band above $2,030.
AUD/USD closed in negative territory on Thursday but recovered above 0.6500 in the Asian session. NZD/USD gained traction early Friday and was last seen rising more than 0.5% on the day at around 0.6100.
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.
