January's FOMC meeting minutes surprised many pundits yesterday, as they revealed that the Federal Reserve is not in a hurry to normalize interest rates, specifically because of the uncertain global economic outlook and the recent strength of the greenback. It therefore seems that the Fed has joined in the currency war that many central banks are waging to devalue their currencies and gain an exporting advantage in world markets. Despite this, the U.S. dollar is rising against most of its peers this morning. As for the bond market, it has pushed off from June until September expectations for a key rate hike.
U.S. Initial Jobless Claims figures will be the major economic indicator of the day, being released at 8:30 a.m. this morning. The market is forecasting a decrease to 290,000, compared to 304,000 last week. At 10:00 a.m. we will have U.S. Leading Indicators, which is expected to come in 0.3% lower. Have a good day!
Xavier Villemaire
Range f the day: 1.2435 - 1.2535