USD

The US dollar continued to cave under the higher-yielding currencies in yesterday’s trading, as mixed durable goods orders data led traders to believe that the U.S. recovery is unsustainable. 

The headline figure showed a 4.2% jump, mostly driven by automobile sales, while the core figure remained flat. No reports are due from the U.S. today, which opens up the possibility of profit-taking ahead of the weekend. 

EUR

The euro continued to edge higher against the dollar, as EUR/USD tapped the 1.3300 area during the U.S. session. German Ifo business climate came in line with consensus at 106.2, which is a good improvement from the previous month’s figure. For today, there are no major reports from the euro zone. Only the German consumer prices report is up for release at 7:00 am GMT. 

GBP

The pound had a choppy trading day, especially after the release of the UK preliminary GDP figure. The actual report showed a 0.6% uptick as expected, but this appeared to disappoint pound traders as the currency suffered a quick selloff against most of its counterparts upon the release. No reports are due from the U.K. today. 

CHF There were no reports released from Switzerland yesterday and none are due today, which suggests that the franc could continue to take advantage of the ongoing dollar weakness. 

JPY

The yen enjoyed some gains against the dollar, as Japan printed another round of increases in consumer price levels. Tokyo showed a 0.3% uptick as expected while the national core CPI printed a 0.4% increase, higher than the estimated 0.3% rise. This reflects how the BOJ’s massive stimulus efforts are working and that no additional stimulus is needed for now. 

Commodity Currencies (AUD, NZD, CAD)

NZD/USD enjoyed a strong rally in yesterday’s trading when the RBNZ adopted forward guidance in announcing that the low rates would last until 2014 only. This prompted speculations of a rate hike, which pushed NZD/USD to the .8100 mark. Meanwhile, the Australian dollar was able to recover most of its recent losses to the dollar as it edged back above the .9200 handle.

By Kate Curtis from Trader’s Way