Forex Today: Little action across the FX board

Valeria Bednarik FXStreet

What you need to take care of on Thursday, December 22:

The FX board entered a low volatility consolidative phase, typical of the last two weeks of December. The US Dollar seesawed between gains and losses, ending the day mixed against its major rivals. The Greenback got a temporal boost from CB Consumer Confidence, as the index improved more than anticipated in December. However, the news underpinned US indexes, with Wall Street up for a second straight day.

On a down note that did not reach trading boards, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he would increase the country’s military potential. The news anticipate a long-lasting conflict in Ukraine and long-term implications for Moscow's relationship with the Western world.

The EUR/USD pair continued to hover around the 1.0600 mark, ending a third consecutive day little changed just above the level.

GBP/USD fell sub-1.2100 after trading as high as 1.2240, with the pound undermined by poor UK data as government borrowing hit a record high in November.

AUD/USD found support in stocks’ momentum but struggled to extend gains beyond the 0.6700 threshold. USD/CAD trades pretty much flat at around 1.3610. Inflation in Canada rose by 6.8% YoY in November, down from 6.9% in October, slightly higher than the market expectation of 6.7%. On a monthly basis, the CPI rose by 0.1%.

Finally, USD/JPY stabilized just above the 132.00 level.

Gold flirted with December high but ended the day at around $1,813 a troy ounce. Crude oil prices, on the other hand, rallied, with WTI settling at $78.45 a barrel.

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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.

GBP/USD keeps the firm tone above 1.3600

GBP/USD clings to its daily gains, although it gives back some of them and recedes toward the 1.3630-1.3620 band on Thursday. Cable’s uptick comes despite the modest bounce in the Greenback, while investors gear up for key data releases on the UK calendar on Friday.

EUR/USD treads water near 1.1670

EUR/USD gives away all its initial gains and receded to the sub-1.1700 region. The US Dollar’s late recovery has dragged the pair lower, leaving it practically unchanged following the NA session on Thursday. In the meantime, investors gear up for the release of preliminary S&P Global Manufacturing and Services PMIs on both sides of the Atlantic on Friday.

Gold trims losses, back above $4,500

Gold manages to regain some composure and reclaim the area beyond the key $4,500 mark per troy ounce on Thursday. The yellow metal’s daily decline comes amid the humble improvement in the US Dollar while US Treasury yields remain on the rise following Wednesday’s marked retracement across the curve.

Ethereum bulls defend rally above $2,300 despite rising profit-taking

Ethereum continued its rally on Thursday as capital gradually flowed back into the derivatives market after the recent leverage flush. ETH open interest, which is the total worth of outstanding contracts in a derivatives market, has risen by 270K ETH to 13.2M ETH over the past few hours.

Why long bonds have repriced the cost of money

The 30-year Treasury is 12 basis points below its highest level since before the financial crisis. Not its highest since 2023, or since the tightening cycle, but since June 12, 2007, the last time the longest bond in the world's deepest market yielded what it yields on Thursday. Getting there took two attempts and most of the year.

$20 billion offered, $2 billion taken: Why Treasury doubled its buyback cap

The US Treasury moved off its own calendar on Wednesday, and that is the part worth sitting with. At 12:32 GMT, the department said it would at least double the size of liquidity support buyback operations in the 10-year to 20-year and 20-year to 30-year sectors, lifting the maximum from $2 billion per operation to at least $4 billion, effective September 9 and running to November 4.