The US dollar gained significantly against its main competitors including the euro, the Canadian dollar and the Japanese yen. The greenback rose after the release of lower than expected US trade balance figures for December reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The US dollar recovered most of the losses it had incurred during previous sessions against major currencies and was trading higher against most currencies at the time of writing. The US dollar index rose significantly from its previous close of 99.90 to trade at 100.34 at the time of writing.
The greenback’s recovery is largely boosted by the increasing short term US yields that restored investor confidence in the currency. The US trade balance for December was also reported at a deficit of $44.3 billion, which is better than the expected figure of $45.0 billion.
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) program monitored by the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the total job openings for December was 5.5 million jobs, which was lower than expected. The US dollar’s recovery was also boosted by the higher economic optimism index as measured by IBD/TIPP, which surpassed expectations.
The US dollar is likely to be affected by the weekly jobless claims data scheduled for release on Thursday, and Friday’s federal budget announcement.
The USD/CAD was trading at 1.3168 as at 17:21 GMT having opened the day’s session trading at a low of 1.3083. The EUR/USD opened the day’s session at 1.0743 and lost ground to trade at 1.0654 before recovering later to trade at 1.0696 at the time of writing.
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