USD

The dollar had a mixed trading day on Friday as it lost ground to the Japanese yen and euro but managed to pocket some gains against its other major counterparts. 

US durable goods orders data came in better than expected, as both headline and core figures printed rebounds from the previous month’s data. Headline durable goods orders increased by 3.3%, erasing part of the previous 6.9% decline, while core durable goods orders rose by 1.3%. There are no reports from the US today as banks are on a Memorial Day holiday.

EUR

The euro is still struggling to stay above the 1.2900 level against the US dollar, as data from Germany came in stronger than expected on Friday. The German GfK consumer climate figure improved from 6.2 to 6.5 while the German IFO business climate report printed a rise from 104.4 to 105.7, higher than the estimated increase to 104.6. There are no reports due from the euro zone today.

GBP                                                

The pound continued to climb slowly against the US dollar on Friday, despite weaker than expected BBA mortgage approvals from the UK. The housing loan report showed a 32.2K reading, down from the estimated 32.7K figure but still better than the recent 31.4K reading. There are no reports due from the UK today.

 CHF                            

The Swiss franc took advantage of dollar weakness on Friday as USD/CHF slid lower to the .9600 major psychological support. There were no reports released from Switzerland then and none are due today, which suggests that USD/CHF might be stuck in consolidation for the next trading sessions.

JPY

The Japanese yen staged another strong rally on Friday as the Nikkei index chalked up another drop. The selloff in equities is currently supporting the yen as traders are selling stocks in exchange for the yen. However, the USD/JPY pair is likely to rebound as the BOJ has made no changes to its easing policy while the Fed is mulling an exit to its stimulus program. The minutes of the latest BOJ meeting were released in today’s Asian session.

 Commodity Currencies (AUD, CAD, NZD)

Commodity currencies continue to test key levels (0.9600 for AUD/USD and .8100 for NZD/USD) as markets await further catalysts. There are no major reports from the comdolls this week, except for the BOC rate decision and Canadian monthly GDP release.

By Kate Curtis from Trader’s Way