Big Week / Bad Dollar

This week took its toll on the Japanese Yen and the US Dollar. While the USD rallied against the Yen, the two currencies were lower overall against the rest of the world. The Yen weakened further this morning against the Euro, as speculations on further bullish rate hike possibilities vanished following the Bank of Japan policy meeting on Wednesday. BOJ governor Fukui noted that “the Central Bank does not have specific schedules for further rate hikes.” He repeated today that the rate increase would be very gradual, diminishing expectations for consecutive rate increases. The Euro rose to a record high of 159.59 versus the Yen and the Sterling, while the Loonie and Kiwi both took gains against the Japanese Dollar as well. Big movers this week included the Swiss Franc – with a more than 160-pip move – and the Canadian Dollar. The USD/CAD took 150 for the week in favor of the Canadian Dollar, thanks in part to strong growth and a slew of technical indicators pointing to a bullish Loonie. On the fundamental schedule, we are looking for confirmation from next Tuesday’s Durable Goods and Consumer Confidence reports. As we head into the weekend, the USD/JYP is trading at 121.02, and the EUR/USD is sitting at 1.3162.
David Hilgeman, XPRESSTRADE Analyst