US Dollar
The dollar gained some ground yesterday against its major peers, but was almost flat in Asian trading hours today before several macroeconomic reports are issued in the United States. In a speech to the House Budget Committee the Fed’s President Ben Bernanke underlined yesterday that “over the past few months, indicators of spending, production and job-market activity have shown some signs of improvement.” The Labor Department also reported that the number of initial jobless claims decreased by 12000 to 367000 in the week ended on January 28.
Today the data may show that companies hired 150000 employees in January, as economists predict on average, after adding 200000 workers in the previous month. Unemployment rate probably held at 8.5%. Other reports may show factory orders increased by 1.5% in December and the Institute’s for Supply Management non-manufacturing index rose from 52.6 to 53.2 in January, climbing to the highest level since August 2011. The dollar index fluctuates around 79 before the data is released.
Euro
The euro was mixed this week, staying mainly above 1.31 and below 1.32 against the greenback as Greece has not reached yet a final agreement with private bondholders on a debt swap deal. Nevertheless any positive news from negotiations may provide the single currency with additional support and drive it to retest its 7-week high 1.3220. Moreover investors will be closely watching today the region’s retail sales figures reading. According to preliminary estimation, the measure may have advanced by 0.3% in December after a 0.4% drop one month earlier, but the annual growth pace may still remain negative (at -1.3%).
Swiss Franc
The Swiss franc has closely approached its cap against the euro, which is pledged to be defended by the Swiss National Bank. This week pair EUR/CHF dropped to almost a five-month low (1.2029), just 29 points above the central bank’s floor, amid continuing discussions on Greece’s debt burden. The franc was little changed yesterday after reports showed that the nation’s trade balance surplus decreased from 2.95 billion francs in November to 2.07 billion in December, but the annual figure for 2011 rose to a record of 23.8 billion, exceeding the previous value by 22%.
Canadian Dollar
The loonie, as the currency is called, lost ground against the US counterpart after Statistics Canada reported that employers added fewer jobs in January than economists initially estimated – the number of people employed increased by 2300, instead of 24000. “Both full-time and part-time employment were essentially unchanged in January”, the department said in a statement, while the unemployment rate increased from 7.5% to 7.6%. Pair USD/CAD was actually little changed today, but accelerated above parity after the jobs report, compared with yesterday’s close at 0.9991.
