USD

The US dollar had a pretty quiet trading day, as traders calmed down from the NFP volatility.

The currency managed to hold on to its lead against the euro and comdolls but weakened to the yen and pound. There were no major reports out of the US yesterday, although the medium-tier labor conditions index climbed from 1.3 to 1.6 in October.

EUR

The euro was still in a weak spot against its peers, as the German trade balance missed expectations. The Sentix investor confidence index posted a better than expected reading of 15.1 versus the projected 12.4 figure, up from the previous 11.7 reading. French and Italian industrial production numbers are up for release today.

GBP

The pound was one of the best performers yesterday, even though there were no reports out of the UK. Traders may have been pricing in positive expectations for the upcoming jobs release, with the claimant count change likely to print a mere 1.6K rise in joblessness. For today, there are still no reports due from the UK.

CHF

The franc followed in the euro’s footsteps and weakened to most of its peers, although it managed to recoup its gains when risk aversion extended its stay. There were no reports out of Switzerland yesterday while today has the unemployment rate on tap.

JPY

The yen took advantage of the run in risk aversion, but it had trouble holding on to its lead since data from Japan has been mostly weak. The current account surplus shrank from 1.59T JPY to 0.78T JPY, worse than the projected drop to 1.50T JPY.

Commodity Currencies (AUD, NZD, CAD)

The comdolls started off on a weak foot, as the Chinese trade numbers still weighed on sentiment. In Australia, job advertisements picked up by 0.4% compared to the earlier 3.8% jump while Canada reported a 198K increase in housing starts. Earlier today, Australia printed its NAB business confidence index, which dipped from 5 to 2. Chinese CPI came in below expectations at 1.3% versus 1.5% while the PPI showed a 5.9% drop as expected.

By Kate Curtis from Trader’s Way