Judging by the comments of several of its members last week, the Federal Reserve appears to be preparing economic stakeholders for more "flexibility" concerning its plan to purchase some $85 billion in bonds per month.
Markets interpreted this notion of "flexibility" as a reduction, meaning fewer purchases (injection of funds/quantitative easing), which would boost the greenback. This hunch proved accurate: The EUR/USD pairing is below 1.3000, the Australian dollar is below parity, the yen is above 102…and there's also been a significant increase in U.S. bond yields.
The USD/CAD pairing nudged back above 1.0100 and may go higher if new Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz confirms his aversion for a strong loonie.
This week's news is discussed in greater detail in the FX Snapshot, including the speeches by five members of the FOMC. A situation that bears monitoring closely. Olivier Cosialls
Range of the day: 1.0050-1.0150