Home Daily Commentaries Dollar bounces back from the gutter

Dollar bounces back from the gutter

Daily Currency Update

USD - United States DollarAfter hitting its highest level since May 2018 two days ago, EUR/USD has dropped nearly 2% in a slight recovery for the US dollar.The US response to the pandemic, global trade tensions and recent announcements from the Federal Reserve are all contributing to the US dollar softness. With these factors weighing heavily on the US dollar, the euro, Great British pound, Australian dollar and Canadian dollar have all reached recent highsHowever, its been two days of positive gains for the US dollar against all four of the currencies. Since last night, the pound is down over 1%, the Aussie is down over half a percent and the Loonie is in nearly flat.

Key Movers

Initial jobless claims in the UK jumped to above 1 million (against expectations of a drop compared to last month). Although continuing claims edged slightly lower to 14.8 million, while UK Retail sales returned to pre-pandemic levels, posting a 3.6% increase from July. The Office for National Statistics confirmed sales are now 3% higher than February before the World Health Organization declared a pandemic and the UK was placed in lockdown.The Australian dollar struggled to regain its momentum yesterday after falling a full cent from eight-month highs following the release of US Federal Reserve minutes. Declining from Wednesday night highs of 0.7275, the local currency opened at 0.7180 and continued its shift lower yesterday to intraday lows of 0.7135 during the Asian session amid falling oil prices. Equities were also under pressure seeing a 0.8% drop on the ASX 200 following the soft lead on Wall Street.Commodity linked currencies were broadly lower over the past 24 hours with the New Zealand dollar seeing the biggest losses on weaker oil prices overnight. Oil prices dropped on concerns for the world’s largest offshore oil rig company Valaris Plc filed for voluntary bankruptcy in the Southern District of Texas as they looked to restructure $7 billion in debt.

Expected Ranges

  • EUR/USD: 1.175 - 1.188 ▲
  • GBP/USD: 1.307 - 1.325 ▲
  • AUD/USD: 0.714 - 0.721 ▲
  • USD/CAD: 1.316 - 1.323 ▼