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Composed of a group of economic journalists and FX experts, the FXStreet content team produces and oversees all content published on FXStreet. It provides a purely journalistic approach to the Forex market.
GBP/USD extends its weekly rally and trades at its highest level since February above 1.3650 as the upbeat PMI data supports Pound Sterling despite disappointing Retail Sales figures. Meanwhile, the US Dollar (USD) struggles to stay resilient against its peers following the Treasury Department's decision to boost long-term bond purchases earlier in the week, helping the pair gather bullish momentum ahead of US PMI data.
EUR/USD gains traction in the European session on Friday and trades above 1.1700 despite the mixed PMI prints from Germany and the Eurozone. Investors await preliminary August PMI surveys for the US, while the persistent USD weakness allows the pair to keep cling to its bullish stance.
Gold extends gains on Friday, with bulls aiming for a retest of the $4,600 resistance area, the top of the last six months' trading range. Precious metals are gaining momentum, favoured by a sharp US Dollar selloff, following the announcement of a US Treasury plan to boost liquidity to repurchase long-term securities.
The cryptocurrency market remains bullish on Friday, led by Bitcoin’s surge above $77,000. Altcoins, including Ethereum and Ripple, mirror BTC’s positive outlook, trading near $2,400 and $1.35, respectively.
S&P Global will release the preliminary figures of August’s US Purchasing Managers' Indices (PMIs). For August, the market consensus anticipates a mild slowdown in economic activity, with the Manufacturing PMI ticking down to 53.8 from July’s 53.9 reading and the Services PMI easing to 54.0 from last month’s 54.6.
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.
