Daily Currency Update
USD - United States DollarThe U.S. Dollar index was quiet, dipping slightly to 97.45 as house prices in the United States rose by 0.2 percent for August, albeit missing market expectations of 0.4 percent. The economic calendar for the U.S. dollar is full this morning, with weekly initial jobless and continuing jobless claims reported at 8:30am. Also being released were Durable Goods Orders for September. Markit Manufacturing, Service, and Composite PMI's for October, followed by the Kansas Fed Manufacturing Activity report later in the morning. Today ECB set its primary lending rate at 0 percent and its main deposit facility at 0.5 percent. With Inflation for the Eurozone well off the 2 percent target, the ECB rate-setting council reiterated that it would keep interest rates at present or even lower levels going forward. This was Mario Draghi's last meeting before Christine Lagarde heads up the ECB as the new president for the European Central Bank on November 1st, 2019
Key Movers
Sterling remained relatively muted on Wednesday in the aftermath of Tuesday's parliamentary Brexit votes. After the EU rejected Johnson's fast track timetable proposal, it is now down to the EU diplomats to determine the length of the UK's extension, if any. It is anticipated that the motion was discussed on Wednesday night at an ambassadors meeting that should lead to a decision on Friday. President Donald Tusk has urged EU leaders to back an extension; however, there are still those that oppose this notion. EU leaders may call an emergency summit on Monday for political talks to iron out any creases between the two parties. Johnson still stands by his previous statement – it's his deal or a no-deal on October 31st, with no option of an extension. French officials are keen to offer an extension until November 15th at the latest, however, Jan 2020 is still looking most likely.
Expected Ranges
- EUR/USD: 1.1119 - 1.1162 ▼
- GBP/USD: 1.2868 - 1.2949 ▼
- USD/CAD: 1.3053 - 1.3095 ▼
- AUD/USD: 0.6825 - 0.6857 ▼
- NZD/USD: 0.6385 - 0.6424 ▼