Euro Granted Late-Wednesday Boost on Confidence Stats

Published: 21 Dec at 4 PM Tags: Euro, Dollar, Pound Sterling, America, UK, Eurozone, Australian Dollar, New Zealand Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, China, Germany,

Pound Sterling (GBP)
The Pound has been an extremely mixed currency during trading today, having been generally unsettled by the morning’s public sector net borrowing results for November.
On the month, a greater-than-expected deficit expansion has been seen, in the form of a move from -4.32bn to -12.21bn.
This news initially triggered a Pound slump against peers, but has since had a limited negative impact due to investors looking for future input.
The next UK data is due early on Thursday, covering December’s GfK consumer confidence stats. While these have been forecast to move closer to a positive range, the Pound could remain soft due to mixed predictions on Friday’s Q3 GDP growth rate results.

Euro (EUR)
Interest in the Euro has shot up on Wednesday afternoon, thanks to a forecast-beating result for the December Eurozone consumer confidence flash.
Bettering expectations, the figure improved from -6.1 to -5.1, instead of the anticipated -5.6 printing.
Looking forward to the end of the week, Friday morning will bring Germany’s GfK consumer confidence figures, which are expected to show a slight dip from 9.8 to 9.7 in January.

US Dollar (USD)
Weakness in the US Dollar has been prevalent today, with the US currency falling against its regular peers on account of persistent domestic certainties.
Although Wednesday afternoon’s existing home sales figures rose above forecasts, US Dollar investors remained on edge due to the implications of what President-Elect Trump might do for US security when he finally takes office on January 20th.
Thursday could bring major gains for the US Dollar, given that the afternoon’s Q3 GDP growth rate figures are set to rise on the quarter.
Providing balance, however, will be the November durable goods result, which is due to crash down from 4.8% to -0.6%.

Australian Dollar (AUD)
The Australian Dollar has been in limited demand over the course of Wednesday’s trading session, primarily due to an unsupportive development concerning Chinese steel mills.
The Chinese Government has decided to limit steel production in north China, in the hopes that less industrial activity will disperse recent high levels of toxic smog.
This has meant less Australian iron ore has been imported, which has naturally been detrimental to AU exporters of the commodity.
As no major Australian data is due until the New Year, iron ore is likely to remain a key influencer on the AUD.
The most immediate way that Australian Dollar demand could be restored would be if Chinese officials resume previous levels of steel production, which would accordingly see iron ore demand jump back up, along with the Australian Dollar.

New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
Interest in the New Zealand Dollar has been poor overall during Wednesday’s trading session, with a notable dairy price drop on Tuesday continuing to dampen demand for the NZD.
Looking to tonight, the NZD could improve in demand if Q3’s GDP growth rate figures rise instead of falling, as they are predicted to.

Canadian Dollar (CAD)
CAD demand has been low over Wednesday’s session, with the Canadian currency suffering due to flat gold and oil prices.
The last domestic data came on Tuesday, when wholesale sales in October rose above forecasts from -1.5% to 1.1%.
Moving on to Thursday, the Canadian Dollar could bounce back against peers if retail sales in October defy forecasts for falls and inflation in November rises above estimates.

As of Wednesday, 21st December 2016, the Pound Sterling currency rates mentioned within this news item were as follows:

GBP EUR exchange rate was 1.1847, GBP USD exchange rate was 1.2353, GBP AUD exchange rate was 1.7073, GBP NZD exchange rate was 1.7895, GBP CAD exchange rate was 1.6593, and GBP CNY exchange rate was 8.5756.

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