US dollar

Mixed signals from Fed leaves year end rate rise in the balance

Posted on October 21, 2015 at 12:43 pm GMT

As Fed policymakers round up their speeches ahead of next week’s FOMC meeting, doubts remain whether the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates by the year end. After spending much of the year stressing the Fed’s data dependency on the timing of any decision to increase rates, Fed policymakers have yet to convince markets that the US is ready for lift-off. In the summer, a tightening labor market had pointed to a September increase in the Fed’s funds rate, but [..]

As AUD/USD retests 0.74, has the Australian dollar bottomed out?

Posted on October 15, 2015 at 10:50 am GMT

The Australian dollar has been depreciating since the spring of 2013 as global commodity prices have tumbled on softening demand, particularly from China. The Australian economy came out of the world financial crisis relatively unscathed as strong demand in China for commodities such as iron ore – Australia’s main export – drove economic growth. But a slowing economy in China, combined with the rout in oil prices and a strong US dollar, has pushed commodity prices to multi-year lows, hitting [..]

Aussie at fresh 6-year low after Australian GDP slows more than expected

Posted on September 2, 2015 at 9:58 am GMT

GDP growth in Australia slowed to the lowest level since 2013 in the second quarter of the year as China’s economic woes appeared to be putting a strain on the Australian economy. Second quarter growth was up 0.2% from the previous quarter, below estimates that it would expand by 0.5%. This compares with an unusually robust first quarter when the economy grew by 0.9%. Compared with a year earlier, GDP was up 2.0%. As expected, the main downward effect on [..]

Kiwi under pressure on weak employment growth and lower dairy prices

Posted on August 5, 2015 at 11:20 am GMT

The New Zealand dollar touched a new 6-year low earlier on Wednesday, dropping to 0.6517 against the US dollar. A modest recovery in oil prices and an aussie rally provided only limited support to the kiwi as weak employment data and another drop in the global dairy price index weighed on the currency. Employment in the second quarter rose by just 0.3% in New Zealand, against expectations of a 0.5% rise. This was down on the first quarter’s 0.7% growth. [..]

Forex News – Federal Reserve is still “patient” with rates; weighs jobs, growth and inflation ahead

Posted on January 29, 2015 at 1:22 pm GMT

The Federal Reserve statement, which was released following its 2-day meeting that ended on Wednesday, contained no big surprises. Still, there were some shifts in the Fed’s language which do provide clues as to what happens next. The most important point was perhaps that the Fed has upgraded its view of the US economic expansion to “solid” from “moderate”. It also upgraded its view of job gains, describing them as “strong” instead of “solid” in the previous statement. The Fed [..]

European Session – Dollar eases after nonfarm payroll surge, euro pauses decline

Posted on October 6, 2014 at 2:04 pm GMT

Currency markets were mostly digesting last week’s slew of important data today and hence there was limited volume. The forecast-beating US jobs report and string of PMI data from across the world led to a lot of flows in currencies and particularly led to broad dollar strength. The greenback has been consolidating today after the nonfarm payrolls surge. Investors are taking a breather this week as the economic calendar is lighter but will focus on some central bank meetings – [..]

Asian Session – Dollar falls broadly ahead of Yellen; yen benefits from risk-off

Posted on May 7, 2014 at 6:34 am GMT

The dollar index dropped to a 6-month low on Wednesday, as markets reacted to treasury yields falling to 3-month lows. The safe haven yen gained as falling tech stocks hurt market risk sentiment and the fighting in Eastern Ukraine made investors cautious. The yen was a significant beneficiary of dollar weakness, as dollar / yen was driven below the 102 level to 101.46 following a sell-off in global stock markets as the end of the lockup period for Twitter shareholders [..]

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