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Wednesday, May 20th
USD/JPY is traded at 120.93 up 0.02% after today’s report of 0.6% GDP growth in Japan in the first quarter this year. The annual GDP growth pace in Japan was reported to be 2.4%, so the yen is withstanding the recent rise of the dollar price against the basket of major currencies.
The U.S. dollar index was up 0.51%, quoted at 95.85. The bullish move of the dollar continues after yesterday’s U.S. building permits robust data showing the 10.1% increase during the last month.
The euro continued falling against the dollar, reaching the two-week lows, after Benoit Coeure, a senior European Central Bank policymaker, mentioned the ECB’s intention of pushing on its stimulus program before the summer in order to guard against “notably lower market liquidity” in late summer. The concerns over Greek default are still sizable.
The Australian dollar hit its lowest since May 12 during the Asian session, consolidating at 0.7893 despite yesterday’s report of 6.4% consumer sentiment increase this month in Australia.
Investors will be watching the April’s FOMC minutes, due later today, for clues on the timing of the interest rate hike in the United States.
The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee minutes are coming. The BoE Governor M. Carney mentioned last week the possibility of interest rate being higher in a year’s time. It was also said that the British interest rates would not be raised too soon to avoid slowing down the economy. GBP/USD is traded at 1.5490.
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