Dollar bulls are back in control today following the previous two days of dollar declines. U.S. Dollar Index support at 104.00 was lightly tested but ultimately seen as a favorable level to add to long dollar positions. A daily close above 104.50 will open the lane to a move higher to 105.00.
USD gains vs. the G10/majors: +0.77% vs. JPY, +0.52% vs. AUD, +0.43% vs. NZD, +0.30% vs. GBP, +0.21% vs. MXN and +0.17% vs. EUR. U.S. Treasury yields are higher on really no news aside from Fed officials repeating the ‘higher rates for longer’ script. The 10-year yield is 0.035% at 4.149% with the January 19th high at 4.196% on the horizon.
U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims were 218k for the week ending Feb 3rd, lower than the 220k estimate. Prior week claims were revised higher to 227k from the 224k initially reported.
Attention now turns to next week’s full U.S. economic calendar which includes CPI on Tuesday, Mortgage Applications on Wednesday, Retail Sales, Jobless Claims and Industrial Production on Thursday, and PPI on Friday.
Canada reports its Net Change in Employment and Unemployment Rate tomorrow.
U.S. equity indexes are off to a slow start today ranging between a 0.04% decline in the S&P500 and 0.08% Nasdaq gain.
