Here is what you need to know on Thursday, January 20:
Following a three-day rally, the US Dollar Index closed in the negative territory on Wednesday as retreating US Treasury bond yields made it difficult for the greenback to preserve its strength. With the benchmark 10-year US T-bond yield holding steady near 1.85% early Thursday, the dollar is staying resilient against its rivals. Later in the session, the European Central Bank (ECB) will release the accounts of its December policy meeting. The weekly Initial Jobless Claims, Existing Home Sales and Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Survey from the US will be looked upon for fresh impetus in the second half of the week.
During the Asian trading hours, the People's Bank of China (PBoC) announced that it lowered the one-year loan prime rate (LPR) by 10 basis points to 3.70% from 3.80% and the five-year LPR by 5 basis points to 4.60% from 4.65%. This development seems to be helping the market mood improve early Thursday with US stocks futures rising between 0.4% and 0.5%. On the other hand, escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine might not allow a risk rally to gain traction.
EUR/USD snapped a three-day losing streak and closed in the positive territory on Wednesday. The pair trades in a relatively tight range around 1.1350 in the early European session on Thursday as market participants await the ECB's publication.
AUD/USD climbed to 0.7250 after the data showed that the Unemployment Rate in December declined to 4.2% from 4.6% in November. The positive impact of the upbeat jobs report remained short-lived, however, as the pair remains at the mercy of the dollar's market valuation.
Despite the greenback weakness on Wednesday, USD/CAD pair struggled to find direction as falling crude oil prices limited the loonie's gains. The data published by Statistics Canada showed that the annual Consumer Price Index edged higher to 4.8% in December as expected.
Gold capitalized on falling US Treasury bond yields and surged above the key $1,830 resistance on Wednesday. XAU/USD seems to have gone into a consolidation phase around $1,840 early Thursday.
GBP/USD registered modest daily gains on Wednesday and started to move sideways above 1.3600 on Thursday. There won't be any high-tier macroeconomic data releases from the UK and risk perception could impact the pair's movements in the remainder of the day.
Bitcoin continues to push lower toward $40,000 but the bearish pressure remains modest for the time being. Ethereum is staging a recovery after closing the previous three trading days in the red and losing more than 8% during that period. ETH/USD was last seen rising nearly 2% on a daily basis at $3,150.
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