Here's what you need to know to trade today Friday February 16:
The US Dollar (USD) extended its downward correction following the release of mixed data on Thursday, with the DXY Dollar Index losing 0.4% on the day. In the early hours of Friday, the dollar remains firm against its rivals, while attention focuses on the data of the Production Price Index (PPI) for January. Later in the American session, the University of Michigan will publish the Preliminary Consumer Sentiment Index for February.
The US Census Bureau reported Thursday that Retail sales fell 0.8% monthly in January. On a positive note, initial weekly jobless claims stood at 212,000 for the week ending February 10, down from 220,000 the previous week. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond fell to 4.2% and Wall Street's main indices posted modest gains following the data, preventing the dollar from gaining strength. In the European morning, the 10-year yield remains in positive territory near 4.25% and US stock index futures are trading mixed.
UK retail sales up 3.4% month-on-month in January, as announced early Friday by the British Office for National Statistics. This data far exceeded market expectations, which expected an increase of 1.5%. Underlying retail sales, which exclude automobile fuel, grew 3.2% in the same period. The British Pound did not benefit from the encouraging data and the pair GBP/USD fluctuates around 1.2600.
The governor of the Bank of Japan, Kazuo Ueda, declared on Friday that They will study the possibility of maintaining various flexibility measures, including the negative interest rate, when a sustained and stable achievement of the price objective is foreseen. Ueda declined to comment on short-term fluctuations in currency markets and possible factors underlying such movements. After closing the previous two days in negative territory, the pair USD/JPY stabilizes near 150.00.
The Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ), Adrian Orr, repeated early on Friday that They have more work to do to anchor inflation expectations in the 2% objective. “Reducing core inflation within the 1%-2% target range is an important part of reducing headline inflation to the 2% target,” Orr added. The pair NZD/USD ignored these comments and is trading slightly lower around 0.6100.
The pair EUR/USD gained recovery momentum and surpassed the 1.0750 level on Thursday. The pair remains stable above this level in the European morning on Friday.
The price of Gold broke a five-day losing streak on Thursday and closed above the key $2,000 level. XAU/USD is trading in a tight range slightly above this level on the last trading day of the week.
Source: Fx Street
I am Joshua Winder, a senior-level journalist and editor at World Stock Market. I specialize in covering news related to the stock market and economic trends. With more than 8 years of experience in this field, I have become an expert in financial reporting.
