US Dollar bulls taking a breather around 99.60
The US Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six trade-weighted peers, is taking a break after rising to a new session high at 99.60. At the moment, the index is still down 0.12%, at 99.58.
The index seems to have formed a strong support base at 99.30 on Thursday. The strong performance witnessed in major U.S. equity indexes suggests that the risk appetite is higher in the session, thus decreasing the demand for safe-haven Treasury bonds and pushing their yields higher. While the 10-year U.S. T-bond yield is gaining 2% on the day, both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 indexes are up nearly 1%.
Today's macro data from the U.S. was largely ignored. The weekly initial jobless claims came in at 244K for the week ending April 14, just missing the expectation of 242K. Philly Fed manufacturing activity index narrowed down to 22 from 32.8 but the employment sub-index continued to advance.
Later in the session, U.S. President Trump crossed the wires and stated that he will reveal what they want to do with NAFTA in the next two weeks. For the remainder of the day, bond yields could continue to impact the greenback as the calendar doesn't offer any data.
Technical outlook
A break below the daily low at 99.30 could open the door towards 99 (psychological level/Mar. 28 low) and 98.65 (Mar. 27 low). To the upside, resistances align at 99.75 (Mar. 23 low) ahead of 100 (psychological level) and 100.50 (Apr. 13 high).
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.
