The Dollar Index Moved Away from the Local Extremes. The Demand is Still High

Yesterday, the US dollar weakened against the major leading currencies. The dollar index (#DX) closed the trading session in the negative zone (0.28%). This movement was mostly caused by technical factors. The demand for the American currency is still at a fairly high level after the publication of the FOMC protocols. Over the past week, the number of initial jobless claims in the US declined by 3% to 222,000.

The Office for National Statistics reported that in the fourth quarter of 2017 the country’s GDP growth slowed from 1.5% to 1.4% (year on year). In December, the base retail sales index of Canada fell by 1.8%. Experts expected the growth rate of 0.1%. The ECB plans to avoid drastic changes in monetary policy and monitor the strengthening of Euro.

Bullish sentiment prevailed in the market of “black gold”. Yesterday, futures for the WTI crude oil rose by more than 1.5%. Support was provided by the report on the crude oil inventories from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. At the moment, quotes are testing the mark of $62.6 per barrel.

Market Indicators

The major US stock indices showed mixed dynamics: #SPY (+0.13%), #DIA (+0.71%), #QQQ (0.01%).

At the moment, the 10year US government bonds yield is at the level of 2.902.91%.

Consumer price index in the Eurozone at 12:00 (GMT+2:00);Inflation report in Canada at 15:30 (GMT+2:00).

by JustMarkets, 2018.02.23