Dollar Enjoys More Forex Market Success as Risk Back on the Agenda

The US dollar continued to enjoy strong performance as the week’s trading began to warm up on Monday morning.

It managed to hit an almost two-week high point as Monday got underway. The dollar index, a tool which assesses how the greenback performs in relation to more than five other global currencies, remained in the 96.315 region.

While this was down a little from Friday’s high point of 96.394, it was holding firm in this high performing region.

The dollar’s recent success has been down in large part to an increased attitude towards risk in the forex world.

This comes after all sorts of global developments, including renewed hope that Britain will strike a Brexit deal with the EU, plus a meeting at the end of the month between American and Chinese officials to discuss trade.

Elsewhere, the euro also managed to rise slightly against the dollar – hitting $1.1373.

The Australian dollar, meanwhile, didn’t see any movement and remained in the $0.7164 region compared to its US counterpart.

Despite some hopes around Brexit, the British pound was down 0.1% to $1.2857.

Today (Monday) is a relatively quiet day on the foreign exchange markets, due in part to the closure of US banks as part of the public holiday for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Looking ahead to tomorrow, there may well be some insights into future economic trends coming out of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

British employment data is due out at 9.30am GMT. Average earnings (calculated without bonuses and in a three months to the year period) for January are expected to remain steady at 3.3%.

However, the overall unemployment claimant count change for January is forecast to change, with a shift from 21,900 to 20,000 expected.

Later in the day, there’ll be an economic sentiment survey covering January in Germany published at 10am GMT.

At 10.45pm GMT, there’ll be a consumer price index release covering the fourth quarter of last year out of New Zealand. Quarter on quarter, this is expected to drop from 0.9% to 0.0%.

On Wednesday, a decision on interest rates will come from the Bank of Japan at 2am GMT. It is expected that the Bank will continue its policy of negative rates and preserve the current rate of -0.1%.

Canadian retail sales information for November is expected out at 1.30pm GMT. This is expected to show a shift from 0.3% to -0.5%.

On Thursday, Australian employment change data for December is due at 12.30am GMT. This is forecast to show a drop from 37,000 to 20,000.

The European Central Bank (ECB) is also predicted to keep its interest rates steady when these are announced at 12.45pm GMT. No change from the current rate of 0% is expected.

On Friday, German business climate information for January will be out at 9am GMT. This is expected to show a slight drop from 101 to 100.6.

With Germany recently being described as at risk of slipping into recession, it’s expected that this data release will be watched closely.