US Dollar Rising Amidst Easing Global Economic Concern
Washington (July 9) The dollar is gaining ground against its major competitors Thursday. Global economic concerns have eased today after the Chinese stock market staged a strong comeback and investors remain optimistic that a Greek solution can be found.
Most Federal Reserve members are not ready to raise interest rates, according to the minutes of the June Federal Reserve meeting which were released yesterday afternoon.
They are waiting for more data to confirm "economic growth was sufficiently strong and labor market conditions had firmed enough to return inflation to the Committee's longer-run objective over the medium term" according to the minutes.
There was only one member of the Federal Open Market Committee wanting to hike rates in June, but even that policy maker was willing to remain patient for another meeting or two.
Meanwhile, first-time claims for US unemployment benefits unexpectedly showed another increase in the week ended July 4th , according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, with claims reaching their highest level in over four months.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims climbed to 297,000, an increase of 15,000 from the previous week's revised level of 282,000. The increase came as a surprise to economists, who had expected jobless claims to dip to 276,000 from the 281,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Greece has promised to implement pension and tax reforms to win fresh aid from skeptical creditors. Greek Prime Minister Alexi Tsipras told European parliament that he would submit a detailed reform plan to the Eurozone on Thursday aimed at resolving the country's debt crisis.
The dollar fell to an early low of USD1.1123 against the Euro Thursday, but has since climbed to around USD1.10 .
Eurozone house prices increased in the first quarter after falling in the prior quarter, preliminary figures from Eurostat showed Thursday. House prices rose 0.3% quarter-on-quarter in the three-month period to March, in contrast to a 0.6% decrease in the previous three months.
Germany's exports grew unexpectedly in May, taking the trade surplus to a record high, data from Destatis revealed Thursday.
Exports rose 1.7% from the prior month, confounding expectations for a 0.8% fall. It was the fastest growth since December, when it grew 2.9%. In April, exports had climbed 1.6%.
At the same time, imports rebounded in May, up 0.4% versus a 0.8% drop in April. Economists had expected a 0.1% gain.
As a result, the trade surplus increased to a record EUR 22.8 billion from a revised EUR 21.5 billion in April.
The Bank of England kept its record low key interest rate and the size of the quantitative easing unchanged as policymakers examine risks emanating from the Greek crisis.
The Monetary Policy Committee decided to hold the key bank rate at 0.50% and the size of asset purchases at GBP 375 billion at the end of the two-day rate setting meeting on Thursday.
The buck traded around USD1.54 against the pound sterling Thursday morning, but has since climbed to around USD1.5350 .
British house prices increased at the fastest pace in eleven months in June, the latest survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors showed on Thursday. The survey showed that monthly house price balance climbed to +40 in June from +34 in May, while it was expected to increase slightly to +36. It was the biggest rate of growth since July 2014 .
The greenback reached a high of Y121.573 against the Japanese Yen Thursday, but has since dipped to around Y121.270 .
Core machine orders in Japan advanced 0.6% on month in May, the Cabinet Office said on Thursday, worth 907.6 billion yen . The headline figure easily beat forecasts for a decline of 0.5% following the 3.8% increase in April.
The M2 money stock in Japan advanced 3.8% on year in June, the Bank of Japan said on Thursday, worth 908.7 trillion yen . That missed expectations for an increase of 4.0% following the upwardly revised 4.1% gain in May.
Source: AllianceNews
