The greenback moved mixed this week versus the G10 basket while the USD/CAD pair printed a new 14-month high. The European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged and drove the euro lower. Sterling in the lack of U.K. economic data this week traded higher.
U.S. dollar Traded Mixed this Week; U.S. GDP in Focus
The U.S. dollar traded mixed this week as well as yesterday’s trading session against the G10 basket. The USD/CAD pair had the biggest jump since Friday as it recorded a fresh 14-month high and posted more than 200 pips. Although, the USD/JPY pair traded as high as 111.77 while it struggled to run further as the latest economic reports continued to disappoint the investors. After the false excitement created by President Trump’s tax reform plan, we believe that USD/JPY has peaked until next week’s FOMC meeting.
In terms of U.S. economic data, the initial jobless claims rose 14K for last month reading to 257K in the week ended on April 21, above the expectations of 241K. The country’s trade balance widened in the month of March whilst durable goods rose about 50% less than anticipated to 0.7%, below the forecast of 1.2%, from 2.3% before. An important for the market report today is U.S.’s GDP growth. U.S. is predicted to grow 1.1% the first quarter of the year versus 2.1% in Q4 2016.
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