This week was rather bad for the US currency even as the US economy demonstrated a moderate growth, which nevertheless wasn’t as good as the economists anticipated.
The economic reports were for the most part worse than the forecasts promised, even though the data showed growth. One example of such reports was the report about the gross domestic product. Even as GDP expanded 3.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010, compared to the 2.6 percent growth in the third quarter, the increase still was below the expected 3.5 percent growth.
Not everything was bad for the US. Consumer confidence and housed market has lent some support for the US currency. By the end of the week the greenback recovered somewhat as tensions in Egypt spurred investors to seek safety, but against most currencies the dollar posted a weekly drop. A remarkable exception from this trend was the euro, which was rising against the dollar for the whole week, but erased all of its gains on Friday.
EUR/USD jumped from the opening level of 1.3605 to 1.3757, the highest level since November 22nd, but erased gains, falling to 1.3608. USD/JPY opened at 82.63, was falling for three day, managed to climb to 83.21 on Thursday, but on Friday pared gains and closed at 82.12. USD/CHF dropped from 0.9583 to 0.9417 this week. AUD/USD retreated from the weekly high of 1.0021, but managed to rise from 0.9885 to 0.9927.
If you have any questions, comments or opinions regarding the US Dollar,
feel free to post them using the commentary form below.