Here’s what you need to know on Wednesday, July 10:
Major currency pairs continue to trade within familiar midweek ranges as investors continue to look for the next catalyst. Later that day, Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell will deliver the Semi-Annual Monetary Policy Report and answer questions before the House Financial Services Committee on the second day of his congressional testimony. Several other Fed policymakers will also deliver speeches during U.S. trading hours.
US Dollar PRICE This Week
The table below shows the percentage change in the US dollar (USD) against the major currencies traded this week. The US dollar was the strongest against the New Zealand dollar.
| USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | BOOR | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD | 0.17% | 0.14% | 0.39% | -0.10% | 0.04% | 0.74% | 0.12% | |
| EUR | -0.17% | 0.18% | 0.54% | 0.05% | 0.03% | 0.92% | 0.30% | |
| GBP | -0.14% | -0.18% | 0.33% | -0.11% | -0.15% | 0.74% | 0.11% | |
| JPY | -0.39% | -0.54% | -0.33% | -0.49% | -0.34% | 0.50% | -0.22% | |
| BOOR | 0.10% | -0.05% | 0.11% | 0.49% | 0.09% | 0.84% | 0.23% | |
| AUD | -0.04% | -0.03% | 0.15% | 0.34% | -0.09% | 0.89% | 0.25% | |
| NZD | -0.74% | -0.92% | -0.74% | -0.50% | -0.84% | -0.89% | -0.63% | |
| CHF | -0.12% | -0.30% | -0.11% | 0.22% | -0.23% | -0.25% | 0.63% |
The heat map shows the percentage changes of the major currencies relative to each other. The base currency is selected from the left column, while the quote currency is selected from the top row. For example, if you select the US dollar from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the Japanese yen, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent USD (base)/JPY (quote).
In prepared remarks Tuesday, Powell told the Senate Banking Committee that more good data would bolster their confidence in inflation, reiterating that it would not be appropriate to lower the interest rate until they had more confidence. Commenting on the latest jobs report, “the latest labor market data sent a pretty clear signal that the labor market has cooled significantly,” he noted. The remarks did not prompt a noticeable market reaction. The U.S. dollar index closed with compact gains, while major U.S. stock indexes ended the day largely unchanged.
During Asian trading hours, data from China showed the consumer price index fell 0.2% month-on-month in June, pushing the annual CPI inflation rate down to 0.2% from 0.3% in May. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand announced it was leaving the policy rate unchanged at 5.5%, in line with widespread expectations. The RBNZ said in its policy statement that there were signs suggesting that the persistence of inflation would ease in line with a decline in capacity pressures and corporate pricing intentions. Following this, the NZD/USD pair turned south and was last trading below 0.6100, where it was down more than 0.5% on the day.
EUR/USD posted minor losses on Tuesday but managed to stay comfortably above 1.0800. Early Wednesday morning, the pair was trading marginally higher on the day, around 1.0820.
GBP/USD fell on Tuesday and ended the day below 1.2800. The pair is holding on to compact gains near that level in the European morning session.
After a acute drop on Monday, Gold executed a technical correction and posted compact gains on Tuesday. XAU/USD struggles to gain bullish momentum on Wednesday but holds above $2,370.
USD/JPY soared after finding support near 161.00 and closed higher on Tuesday. The pair is holding its ground early in the European session and is trading around 161.50.
