Watch Vantage FX UK's (https://www.vantagefx.co.uk/) look back at the Forex Market news from last week, including a big week for the USD and poor European GDP. Plus a look ahead at the key data of the coming week.
Market Wrap - What Will The FED Do Next?
It was a data-filled week for the US dollar starting with US retail sales figures on Monday which came in slightly higher than expected. Consumer spending increased by 0.7% off the back of previous positive employment figures.
However the greenback weakened on Thursday after a run of poor data out from the US. Initial jobless claims rose from 328,000 to 360,000, the US Consumer Price Index revealed that inflation is lower than predicted, while housing figures were mixed. Not to be deterred, the dollar gained back its losses on Friday, with the University of Michigan report indicating a high level of consumer confidence.
Speculation continues over whether or not the FED will continue with the current stimulus programme -- this Wednesday the minutes from the most recent FOMC meeting will be released which should give us a better insight into the FED's plans.
Now over to the Eurozone. German Economic Sentiment was cause for concern as data from the survey came out lower than expected on Tuesday. These concerns were compounded on Wednesday with German first quarter GDP dropping to -0.2% year on year, against the positive projected figure.
Wednesday's data indicated that, unsurprisingly, it is not just Germany which is struggling. Eurozone GDP also disappointed, the Italian economy contracted further, and France has officially entered a technical recession. Needless to say, the euro suffered as a result of all this negative news.
As for the Yen, it would seem that the so-called Abenomics is working its magic. The dollar lost some ground against the yen on Thursday after Japanese GDP posted a higher than expected figure overnight. Analysts had predicted that the Dollar/Yen would not advance far beyond the 102.50 levels.
Now let's see what this week has in store. On Tuesday the minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia's policy meeting will be published, along with the Bank of New Zealand's 2 year inflation prediction, and later on in the day we have UK CPI.
Wednesday is a big day with the Bank of Japan rate decision followed by Kuroda's press conference, the Bank of England Minutes, UK and Canadian retail sales, Ben Bernanke's speech on the US economic outlook, and last but not least, the minutes from the FOMC meeting.
Then on Thursday we have UK first quarter GDP and Eurozone consumer confidence. To round off the week on Friday we have US durable goods orders.
Look out for our new weekly chart analysis series where we'll be following a different chart each week. For this week's chart we'll be looking at moving averages so be sure to check it out. That's all for now.
Thank you for watching and see you next week!
