Forex Today: US Dollar recovery loses steam ahead of high-tier data
Here is what you need to know on Wednesday, January 3:
The US Dollar (USD) gathered bullish momentum and outperformed its rivals on the first trading day of 2024 as the market mood soured. After rising nearly 1% on Tuesday, the USD Index seems to have stabilized above 102.00 early Wednesday. November JOLTS Job Openings and December ISM Manufacturing PMI data will be featured in the US economic docket. Later in the American session, the Federal Reserve (Fed) will release the minutes of the December policy meeting.
The table below shows the percentage change of US Dollar (USD) against listed major currencies this week. US Dollar was the strongest against the Swiss Franc.
USD EUR GBP CAD AUD JPY NZD CHF USD 0.88% 0.75% 0.59% 0.73% 0.74% 0.77% 1.11% EUR -0.73% 0.03% -0.13% -0.01% -0.14% 0.04% 0.30% GBP -0.75% -0.02% -0.14% -0.02% 0.07% 0.03% 0.29% CAD -0.60% 0.10% 0.33% 0.09% 0.13% 0.16% 0.44% AUD -0.73% 0.00% 0.03% -0.15% -0.18% 0.04% 0.34% JPY -0.73% 0.17% 0.08% 0.06% 0.18% 0.23% 0.31% NZD -0.81% -0.05% -0.03% -0.18% -0.06% -0.22% 0.25% CHF -1.03% -0.29% -0.26% -0.41% -0.28% -0.31% -0.23%The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the Euro from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the Japanese Yen, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent EUR (base)/JPY (quote).
The benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield rose toward 4% and provided a boost to the USD on Tuesday as trading conditions normalized. Meanwhile, Wall Street's main indexes opened in negative territory and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell more than 1.5%. Early Wednesday, the 10-year US yield holds steady at around 3.95% and US stock index futures trade marginally lower.
EUR/USD came under technical selling pressure after dropping below 1.1000 and touched its lowest level in nearly two weeks at 1.0938 on Tuesday. The pair stays in a consolidation phase slightly above 1.0950 in the European morning on Wednesday. Germany's Destatis will release Unemployment Rate data for December.
GBP/USD lost more than 100 pips on Tuesday and came within a touching distance of 1.2600 before staging a modest rebound. The pair was last seen trading modestly higher on the day at around 1.2650.
USD/JPY rallied on Tuesday, fuelled by rising US yields and broad USD strength. The pair lost its bullish momentum during the Asian trading hours and started to move sideways near 142.00.
USD/CAD rose sharply on Tuesday and stabilized above 1.3300 early Wednesday. In addition to the upbeat performance of the USD, falling Crude Oil prices helped the pair push higher by weighing on the commodity-sensitive Canadian Dollar.
After rising toward $2,080 on Tuesday, Gold reversed its direction in the American session and closed the day virtually unchanged near $2,060 on Tuesday. XAU/USD holds steady and fluctuates in a narrow band slightly above $2,060 in the European morning.