US Dollar Trends Higher ahead of FOMC Meeting Minutes, Euro Bullish Despite Rising Odds of ECB Easing

Published: 18 Nov at 4 PM Tags: Euro, Dollar, Pound Sterling, America, UK, Eurozone, Australian Dollar, New Zealand Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada,

Pound Sterling

Bank of England (BoE) Deputy Governor Ben Broadbent inspired a limited rally for the Pound today after advising that investors should not place too great a focus on the central bank’s inflation target when assessing the potential timing of an interest rate rise.

As the policymaker failed to offer any particular indication as to when the BoE might be prepared to start tightening monetary policy, however, it was not long before Sterling lost its burst of momentum.

The appeal of the Pound remains limited following the revelation of continued negative inflation within the UK economy.

Euro

After a stronger showing on the morning’s Eurozone Construction Output figure, rising to 1.8% on the year, the single currency has been trending bullishly against rivals throughout the day.

Despite the heightened chances of the European Central Bank (ECB) expanding its quantitative easing program in December, the Euro has been buoyed by the prospect of more dovish Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes being released later this evening.

US Dollar

Despite US Housing Starts slumping rather more severely than expected, dropping from 6.7% to -11.0% in October, the ‘Greenback’ has returned to generally positive form on Wednesday afternoon.

As Building Permits contrastingly leapt on the month in October the day’s data has not been decidedly dovish, leaving traders in mixed minds ahead of tonight’s FOMC minutes.

While some economists are estimating a decrease in the odds for an imminent Fed interest rate hike this has not prevented the US Dollar from retaking ground today.

Australian Dollar

Although the Australian Conference Board Leading Index showed improvement and the Wage Cost Index held steady overnight the ‘Aussie’ has been trending lower today.

As copper has remained in the range of six-year lows the antipodean currency has struggled to maintain its recent traction against rivals amidst increasing market risk aversion.

New Zealand Dollar

Following a third consecutive session of dairy price slumps at Tuesday’s GlobalDairyTrade auction demand for the New Zealand Dollar has remained muted.

As pundits are increasingly anticipating an interest rate cut from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) before the end of the year there has been little incentive to buy back into the ‘Kiwi’ today.

Canadian Dollar

US crude stockpiles were found to have fallen far further than expected on Wednesday, clocking in at an increase of 252,000 barrels rather than 2,000,000.

While this has prompted the price of oil to return to an uptrend the severe volatility of the commodity has prevented the ‘Loonie’ from particularly strengthening in response.

As of Wednesday, 18th November 2015, the Pound Sterling currency rates mentioned within this news item were as follows:

GBP EUR exchange rate was 1.4282, GBP USD exchange rate was 1.5238, GBP AUD exchange rate was 2.1414, GBP NZD exchange rate was 2.3479, and GBP CAD exchange rate was 2.0267.

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