Here is what you need to know on Friday, December 29:
Markets remain relatively calm on the last trading day of the year as trading conditions continue to thin out ahead of the long weekend. The economic calendar will not offer any high-tier data releases and the trading action could stay subdued heading into the New Year's holiday.
After touching a fresh multi-month low of 100.60 early Thursday, the US Dollar (USD) Index staged a rebound in the American session and closed the day in positive territory above 101.00. In the absence of fundamental drivers, the recovery seen in US Treasury bond yields helped the USD find demand. Meanwhile, the data from the US showed that there were 218,000 Initial Jobless Claims in the week ending December 22 and Pending Home Sales were unchanged on a monthly basis in November.
The USD remains on track to post losses against most major currencies for the year. The only currency that the USD outperformed in 2023 was the Japanese Yen.
US Dollar price this year
The table below shows the percentage change of US Dollar (USD) against listed major currencies this year. US Dollar was the weakest against the Swiss Franc.
| USD | EUR | GBP | CAD | AUD | JPY | NZD | CHF | |
| USD | -3.22% | -5.56% | -2.58% | -0.58% | 7.16% | -0.15% | -9.71% | |
| EUR | 3.12% | -2.68% | 1.01% | 2.89% | 10.06% | 3.16% | -6.52% | |
| GBP | 5.24% | 2.58% | 3.58% | 5.45% | 12.39% | 5.09% | -3.93% | |
| CAD | 2.52% | -1.03% | -2.88% | 1.89% | 9.48% | 1.58% | -6.98% | |
| AUD | 0.58% | -2.99% | -5.76% | -2.01% | 7.38% | 0.30% | -9.13% | |
| JPY | -7.72% | -11.19% | -13.70% | -10.07% | -7.97% | -8.31% | -18.56% | |
| NZD | 0.15% | -3.14% | -5.46% | -2.47% | -0.29% | 7.06% | -10.11% | |
| CHF | 8.64% | 6.16% | 3.86% | 7.10% | 8.39% | 15.61% | 8.77% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the Euro from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the Japanese Yen, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent EUR (base)/JPY (quote).
EUR/USD retreated from the multi-month high it set near 1.1150 on Thursday and stabilized below 1.1100 early Friday. The Euro (EUR) is up more than 3% against the USD this year.
After rising above 1.2800, GBP/USD made a sharp U-turn in the second half of the day on Thursday and snapped a two-day winning streak. The pair edged higher during the Asian trading hours and was last seen trading above 1.2750.
USD/JPY fell to its weakest level in five months below 140.50 on Thursday but managed to erase a large portion of its daily losses to close the day comfortably above 141.00. In the European morning on Friday, the pair trades modestly lower on the day at around 141.20.
Gold edged lower as US Treasury bond yields recovered on Thursday. After posting daily losses for the first time in early 10 days, XAU/USD stabilized above $2,070.
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