EUR/USD
EUR/USD continues to trade around 9 year lows with policy divergence combined by the strong US ADP employment change numbers coming in at 241K vs. Exp. 225K facilitating the move higher in the USD-index (+0.4%) to break back above the 92 handle. The positive eurozone Core CPI estimate was unable to provide sustained upside for the EUR after slightly dampening concerns in the eurozone. Elsewhere, the JPY has given back some of its weekly gains propelling the USD higher heading into the FOMC Minutes scheduled today at 1900GMT/1300CST, where market participants expect the Fed to further clarify the ‘patient’ rhetoric from December’s FOMC Rate Decision.
Commodity Currencies
The oil related currencies CAD, NOK, MXN, RUB have been granted some reprieve in today’s session with Brent Crude staging an aggressive recovery after initially breaching USD 50.00 this morning. Overnight comments from UAE’s Oil Minister saying market oversupply may last months or years and depends on non-OPEC output growth prompted the move lower in crude oil. However, the resurgence in the energy prices have helped USD/NOK pull off 2 week highs despite the subsequent broad based USD strength aided by positive US data.