Dollar Mostly Weaker Ahead Of Friday's Data
February 11 2016 - 9:34AM
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The dollar is down against the Euro and the Japanese Yen again
Thursday afternoon, a trend that has continued for nearly 2 weeks.
Amidst a very light week for economic data, investors have focused
on the testimony of Fed Chair Janet Yellen before Congress.
Yellen downplayed the possibility the central bank might soon
cut interest rates in a reversal of December's long-awaited
tightening.
"I have not thought that a downturn sufficient to cause the next
move to be a cut was a likely possibility," Yellen told the Senate
Finance Committee in her second day of Congressional testimony.
Heavy recent losses in the stock market are not the result of
the Fed's December rate hike, the first in a decade.
Because the Fed reduced accommodation only "by a modest amount,"
it was "not mainly our policy" that prompted the January swoon.
In fact, markets were very calm in the weeks immediately after
the Fed rate hike.
For now, the Fed will take a wait-and-see approach before
announcing further policy changes.
Yellen said the Fed is looking into negative rates, but made no
promises that such measures would be taken even if the economy
takes a turn for the worse.
"In light of the experience of European countries and others
that have gone to negative rates, we're taking a look at them
again, because we would want to be prepared in the event that we
would need (to increase) accommodation. We haven't finished that
evaluation. We need to consider the institutional context and
whether they would work well here. It's not automatic," she
said.
Following last week's mixed monthly jobs report, the Labor
Department released a report on Thursday showing that first-time
claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by more than expected in
the week ended February 6th.
The report said initial jobless claims dropped to 269,000, a
decrease of 16,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of
285,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to
281,000.
Investors are looking forward to the release of a number of U.S.
economic reports on Friday. Readings on import & export prices,
retail sales, consumer sentiment and business inventories are all
slated for release.
The dollar dropped to over a 4-month low of $1.1376 against the
Euro Thursday, but has since bounced back to around $1.1350.
The buck climbed to a high of $1.4381 against the pound sterling
Thursday, but has since pulled back to around $1.4450.
The U.K. economy grew at a slightly slower pace in three months
to January due to the weakness in the production sector, the
National Institute of Economic and Social Research said Wednesday.
The monthly estimates of gross domestic product suggested that
output climbed 0.4 percent in three months ending January compared
to a 0.5 percent expansion in three months to December.
The greenback fell to over a 15-month low of Y110.944 against
the Japanese Yen Thursday, but has since rebounded to around
Y111.965.
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