Sterling continued its recent trend on Friday, reaching the highest level in eight years against the euro, whilst falling further away against the US dollar following a better-than-expected US jobs report.
Having enjoyed a period of gaining ground against the US dollar, sterling lost over three cents last week and is close to 1.50, a key support level.
The week ahead is a quiet week for UK data releases following a very busy week last week. Manufacturing production figures on Wednesday are the first major data release of the week. With dipping growth seen recently in the UK, a positive reading here could see sterling gain ground. With little important data set to be released from elsewhere, attention will be turned to the US for retail sales and inflation data towards the end of the week.
Euro under pressure which is set to continue
It was a difficult week for the euro as it remained under pressure after European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi confirmed last Thursday that the ECB will begin purchasing Eurozone government bonds as from today under the new quantitative easing program.
The euro managed to fall even further against its major peers on Friday and hit new multi-year lows as the euro suffered from impressive non-farm payrolls data from the USA.
For the week ahead it is a quieter week for Eurozone data; on Thursday we have industrial production, expected to improve to 0.3%, in comparison to the previous month’s figure of 0%. Other than this release, the euro will have to sit tight and try and ride out the difficult climate that it is currently facing.
US Dollar- Up, up and away
The US dollar continued to strengthen on Friday against the majority of its peers. The spotlight was on the non-farm employment data, and rightly so as the employment change increased against expectations. Unemployment in the US also dropped to 5.5%, a record low since June 2008.
Average hourly earnings were down, but this did not have too much of an impact due to the ‘shock’ figure of the employment change; the US Federal Reserve will still keep a keen eye on this figure leading up to the future interest rate decisions.
A quiet start to the week for the US dollar is expected with minimal data releases. Wednesday sees the release of the bank stress test results, which applies a specific market condition to see how banks will cope with that pressure.
We can expect a bit of movement on Thursday due to the release of core retail sales figures, and the weekly labour data from the US. On Friday we have inflation figures in the form of a Producer Price Index, as well as consumer confidence data, which has been a very positive figure for the US as of late.
US dollar dominant
The Canadian dollar had a weak finish to the week as it dropped to levels of almost two-week lows against its US counterpart. This was largely due to Statistics Canada reporting that the trade deficit widened to C$2.45 billion in January from C$1.22 in December. Experts had expected trade balance to swing into a surplus of C$0.3 billion in January.
Elsewhere, Friday was a slim day for data realises.
The Australian dollar moved up slightly against the US dollar in the anticipation of non-farm payroll data out of the US. However it then lost this ground following the release, as the outcome was much better than initially expected.
Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/46651/
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