The US dollar extended its gains against most other major currencies today as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigned and handed power to the military, increasing concerns about the political situation in Egypt and spurring demand for safety.
Mubarak decided to accept the demands of the protesters and stepped down, giving away power to the Supreme Council of the armed forces. The protesters will likely demand immediate elections to be performed. The traders remained concerned, though, as the power in the hands of the military isn’t the best way to calm the things down.
This week was rather poor on the macroeconomic data from the US, but the reports that were released during the week were quite positive. Today’s reports were in line with the forecasts and haven’t influenced the currency in any significant way. The preliminary Reuters/University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment was positive, jumping 75.1 this month, the highest level in eight months. The trade balance was negative as the deficit increased from $38.3 billion to $40.6 billion in December.
EUR/USD dropped from 1.3599 to 1.3546 as of 20:21 GMT, the currency pair reached the intraday low of 1.3496 previously. GBP/USD slumped from 1.6095 to 1.5963 and later traded at 1.6025. USD/JPY traded near 83.46 after rising from 83.21 to 83.67.
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