What you need to know on Thursday, February 3:
The American dollar kept falling on Wednesday to reach fresh weekly lows against its high-yielding rivals. The EUR/USD pair reached 1.1329 as the EU annual Consumer Price Index jumped to 5.1% in January, largely surpassing the 4.4% expected and above the 5% previous. The reading came one day ahead of the European Central Bank monetary policy announcement, putting pressure on the central bank to respond with a tighter monetary policy.
Government bond yields held near the lower end of their weekly range.
GBP/USD heads into the Asian opening, trading near a daily high of 1.3587, as Wall Street recovered from an early knee-jerk and closed in the green. Stocks eased after the release of the US ADP survey, which showed that the private sector lost 301K positions in January, much worse than anticipated and fueling concerns about the economic recovery in the country.
AUD/USD trades in the 0.7140 region, while USD/CAD is down to 1.2660, while safe-haven currencies also advanced against the dollar.
Gold posted a modest intraday advance and trades at $1,808 a troy ounce, while crude oil prices remained steady around Tuesday’s close. WTI settled at $88.10 a barrel.
US indexes managed to post gains after a soft start to the day. The DJIA added over 200 points and was the best performer.
On Thursday, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England will announce their decisions on monetary policy.
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GBP/USD remains depressed near 1.2520 on stronger Dollar
Poor results from the UK docket kept the British pound on the back foot on Thursday, hovering around the low-1.2500s in a context of generalized weakness in the risk-linked galaxy vs. another outstanding day in the Greenback.
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Persistent safe haven demand continues to prop up the march north in Gold prices so far on Friday, hitting new two-week tops past the key $2,700 mark per troy ounce despite extra strength in the Greenback and mixed US yields.
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