Here is what you need to know on Friday, January 26:
The US Dollar (USD) stays resilient against its major rivals early Friday, supported by the negative shift seen in risk mood. Private Loans for December will be featured in the European docket. Later in the day, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will release the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index data, alongside Personal Spending and Personal Income figures for December.
The European Central Bank (ECB) announced on Thursday that it left key rates unchanged following the January policy meeting as widely expected. During the post-meeting press conference, ECB President Christine Lagarde refrained from commenting on the possible timing of a policy pivot and reiterated that it would be premature to talk about rate cuts. EUR/USD closed in negative territory on Thursday and continued to stretch lower early Friday. At the time of press, the pair was trading below 1.0850.
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 strongest against the Euro.
| USD | EUR | GBP | CAD | AUD | JPY | NZD | CHF | |
| USD | 0.69% | 0.10% | 0.34% | 0.28% | -0.21% | 0.31% | -0.05% | |
| EUR | -0.68% | -0.58% | -0.35% | -0.41% | -0.90% | -0.37% | -0.73% | |
| GBP | -0.11% | 0.57% | 0.22% | 0.17% | -0.32% | 0.22% | -0.16% | |
| CAD | -0.34% | 0.37% | -0.22% | -0.05% | -0.54% | -0.01% | -0.38% | |
| AUD | -0.27% | 0.43% | -0.16% | 0.07% | -0.47% | 0.06% | -0.31% | |
| JPY | 0.20% | 0.88% | 0.36% | 0.54% | 0.45% | 0.53% | 0.16% | |
| NZD | -0.31% | 0.37% | -0.22% | 0.01% | -0.07% | -0.51% | -0.37% | |
| CHF | 0.05% | 0.74% | 0.15% | 0.38% | 0.31% | -0.17% | 0.35% |
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 BEA reported on Thursday that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded at an annual rate of 3.3% (first estimate) in the fourth quarter. This reading surpassed the market expectation of 2% by a wide margin. Other data from the US showed that the weekly Initial Jobless Claims rose to 214,000 from 189,000 in the previous week and Durable Goods Orders remained unchanged in December. The benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield holds comfortably above 4% early Friday and the USD Index stays in positive territory above 103.50. Reflecting the risk-averse market environment, US stock index futures lose between 0.4% and 0.8% in the European morning.
GBP/USD registered marginal losses on Thursday and stretched lower early Friday. The pair, however, holds relatively stable at around 1.2700.
The data from Japan showed that the Tokyo Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 1.6% on a yearly basis in January, down from 2.4% in December. Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan said in the minutes of the policy meeting that member agreed that they must patiently maintain an easy policy. USD/JPY edged higher early Friday and was last seen trading slightly below 148.00.
Gold benefited from retreating US bond yields and closed modestly higher on Friday. XAU/USD struggles to find direction in the European morning and continues to move sideways at around $2,020.
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