The US dollar today rallied against its main peers such as the euro and the Japanese yen after the release of positive US durable goods orders by the Census Bureau. The buying interest in the US dollar seems to have increased overnight, despite the FOMC maintaining interest rates at their current levels during yesterday’s meeting.
The US Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback’s performance against its main trading partners, was trading above its opening quote of 93.46 during the European and early North American sessions.
The markets seem to have ruled out a Fed rate hike in September given that the CME Groupâs FedWatch tool rated the possibility of a December rate hike at just 47%. The release of the US durable goods orders today exceeded expectation as it recorded a 6.5% increase as compared to the market consensus of a 3.9% increase, which caused the greenback to rally higher. The advance goods trade balance also exceeded expectations as it came in at a -$63.9 billion versus the market consensus of -$65.5 billion.
The US initial jobless claims data released by the Department of Labor disappointed by coming in at 244,000 versus the expected 240,000. The continuing claims were also higher than expected.The mixed data from the US docket might have dampened the greenback’s rally.
The US dollar’s future performance is likely to be affected by the release of US GDP data for the second quarter scheduled for tomorrow.
The EUR/USD currency pair was trading at 1.1664 as at 15:31 GMT having declined from a daily high of 1.1776. The USD/JPY pair was trading at 111.60 having rallied from a low of 110.74.
If you have any questions, comments or opinions regarding the US Dollar,
feel free to post them using the commentary form below.
