Greenback – 2018 Weak Start for January

The first day of trading in 2018 (Jan 2nd), the USD plunged to its lowest in more than three months, with the currency affected by market expectations which were lower than expected due to interest rate increase by the Fed. The Greenback’s decline was a continuation of the trend last year when it recorded its weakest annual performance in 14 years.

By the end of trading on Tuesday, USD/JPY decreased by 46 pips or -0.41%, to trade at 112.16, AUD/USD also went down by 10 pips or -0.13%, trading at 0.7827, while USD/CAD went by 14 pips or +0.12% to 1.2540.

Euro

The euro has performed excellently in the second half of 2017, with the optimistic view of a bright economy in the eurozone the major catalyst. The Euro increased its gains over the dollar on Tuesday, surging to a near four-month high of $1.2082 per euro. It ended last year 0.2% up against the USD, trading at $1.2033/euro.

The Sterling was still leading the other major currencies on the first day, enjoying the earlier positive momentum gathered from Markit on the manufacturing PMI.

The pair of GBP/JPY surged higher to 152.71, EUR/GBP, on the other hand, went down to 0.8873, while GBP/CAD increased to 1.7010 on the day.

Forex report on Wednesday, January 3rd, 2018.

The greenback bounced back on Wednesday following strong economic data that were released. The first was the ISM manufacturing PMI which went up from 58.2 to 59.7 in December to indicate a stronger pace of industry expansion. This figure was above the estimated 58.1.

Construction spending increased by 0.8%; a better-than-expected figure to the 0.6% that was forecasted. The total vehicles sales also performed above expectation, jumping from 17.5 million to 17.9 million.

The pair of EUR/USD retracted from the previous 1.2035 to a low of 1.2001, the pair of USD/JPY increased to 112.73, while GBP/USD plunged from 1.3587 to trade at a low 1.3494.

Forex report Thursday 4th January 2018.

The UK PMI report was released earlier today, with the U.K.’s headline services PMI reading for the December recording an eight-month high of 54.2, up from the previous 53.8 and better than the 54.0 forecast. GBP/USD increased by 29 pips or +0.22% to trade at 1.3547, GBP/NZD also went up by 35 pips or +0.20% trading at 1.9013, while GBP/AUD surged by 65 pips or +0.38% to finish the session at 1.7280

The euro zone’s final service PMI report was also reviewed today, with the final review standing at 56.6, slightly higher from the earlier 56.5. The euro ruled the other major currencies at the London session this morning, with the PMI report the major catalyst for the growth. EUR/USD surged by 42 pips or +0.35% trading at 1.2070 during the session, EUR/JPY also went up by 52 pips or +0.38% to 135.94, while

EUR/AUD increased by 80 pips or +0.52% to trade at 1.5397

NFP

The U.S NFP report for December is slated to be released tomorrow Friday 5th January 2018, with the NFP expected to be 190k, compared to the 228k recorded in November. A jobless rate of 4.1% is expected while average hourly earnings m/m is expected to increase by 0.3%, ahead of the 0.2% recorded last time.