Day: May 22, 2014

May 22
2014

Canadian Dollar Ignores Negative Domestic Data

Canadian retail sales demonstrated disappointing results, while the outlook for inflation data is rather poor. Is the Canadian dollar bothered by this? Not at all. On the contrary, the currency posted solid gains today. Canadian retail sales dipped by 0.1 percent in March following gains in January and February, while traders have counted on 0.2 percent increase. Core retail sales rose only marginally by 0.1 percent compared to the forecast growth […]

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May 22
2014

GBP Mixed After Economic Releases

The Great Britain pound fell against the US dollar today after the release of the GDP report and the data about the public sector finances. The currency rose against the Japanese yen and was attempting to rally against the euro but lost its gains by now. Britain’s gross domestic product expanded 0.8 percent in the first quarter of 2014 according to the second estimate, unrevised from the first estimate. The reading was in line with expectations, and it […]

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May 22
2014

Euro Struggles, Even After Data

Even though decent news about the eurozone economy has been released, the euro continues to struggle. The 18-nation currency is lower against many of its counterparts, even after the release of PMI data showing continued (albeit slow) expansion. Part of the issue with the latest PMI data is that, while it shows expansion, and Markit Economics claims that the eurozone economy is growing at its fastest second quarter pace […]

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May 22
2014

Aussie Underperforms Despite Supportive Fundamentals

The Australian dollar dipped against its US counterpart today even as fundamental reports from China and Australia itself were good and should have been supportive for the currency. At the same time, the Aussie was attempting to rally versus the Japanese yen but lost almost all of its gains by now. Melbourne Institute released its Survey of Consumer Inflationary Expectations today. The report said: The expected inflation rate (30-per-cent trimmed mean […]

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May 22
2014

Yen Drops as China’s PMI Comes Out Better than Expected

The Japanese yen retreated today as better-than-expected macroeconomic data from China convinced traders to drop their risk-negative attitude and buy high-beta currencies. The HSBC Flash China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index rose from 48.1 in April to 49.7 in May, while analysts forecast just a small increase to 48.4. It was the highest level in five months. The reading still indicated a contraction of the sector but it was very close to the neutral […]

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May 22
2014

European PMIs Disappoint, EUR/USD Drops for Third Day

The Purchasing Managers’ Indexes for European countries and the whole eurozone released today were disappointing for the most part. (Event A on the chart.) This allowed the dollar to gain on the euro even though the employment and housing data from the United States also missed expectations. Initial jobless claims rose to 326k last week from the previous week’s revised level of 298k. The increase was bigger than the expected rise to 312k. Existing home sales rose […]

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May 22
2014

Mexico’s Central Bank Downgrades Growth Forecast, Peso Mixed

The Mexican pesos fell against the euro today after the nation’s central bank downgraded its forecast for economic growth this year. The currency managed to gain on the US dollar despite the negative news. The Bank of Mexico revised its growth forecast for 2014 from 3–4 percent to 2.3–3.33 percent. The prediction for the next year remained unchanged at 3.2–4.2 percent. Central bank’s President Agustin Carstens was not pessimistic despite the poorer outlook, […]

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May 22
2014

Fed Minutes Show No Surprises, Leaving Dollar Without Direction

The Federal Reserve released the minutes of its April policy meeting yesterday. They showed no big surprises, providing no help for the US dollar. The greenback trimmed its gains versus the euro, was flat versus the Japanese yen and fell against the Great Britain pound. The minutes revealed that the Fed members were considering ways to tighten monetary policy: A staff presentation outlined several approaches to raising short-term interest rates […]

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