Daily Currency Update
USD - United States DollarThe U.S. dollar index is trading slightly lower this morning. There is no economic data today that can significantly affect the Greenback; external factors will be the drivers. Last week, the data from the U.S. was mixed; unemployment insurance weekly claims came better than expected, but the ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI was weaker than the forecast. Today, U.S. stocks are falling, following declines in global markets, as a slide in bond yields pulled bank stocks lower. As a consequence, the Greenback shows weakness as well. The White House is postponing a decision about licenses for U.S. companies to restart a business with Huawei; Trump commented that "…we're not doing business with (them)." He also noted, "…we'll see whether or not we keep our meeting in September. If we do, that's fine. If we don't, that's fine. However, it's time that somebody does what we're doing," regarding the US-China trade spat. The U.S. officially named China a "currency manipulator" last week.
Key Movers
In Australia, market participants are pushing the Aussie dollar lower while they wait for jobs data. According to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, "…despite the risk of slightly better-than-expected labor market data, an unemployment rate of 5.2 percent remains some way away from the RBA's estimate of NAIRU at 4.5 percent." The AUD/USD pair trades lower this morning, at 0.6753, representing a 0.46 percent decline. It is going to be an important week for Europe's economy, with German output data on Wednesday expected to contract in the second quarter. The EUR/USD pair trades at 1.1218, representing a 0.18 percent increase. The People's Bank of China set the official midpoint reference for the USD/CNH (Yuan) pair at 7.0211 per dollar today. However, analysts had expected that the Chinese central bank would set the midpoint at 7.0331 per dollar, weaker than Friday's number. The USD/CNH pair is trading at 7.0970 at the time of this writing (weaker Yuan).
Expected Ranges
- USD/CAD: 1.3190 - 1.3260 ▲
- EUR/USD: 1.1172 - 1.1237 ▲
- GBP/USD: 1.1992 - 1.2142 ▲
- AUD/USD: 0.6735 - 0.6797 ▼
- NZD/USD: 0.6407 - 0.6504 ▼