The US dollar extended its rally for another week. The currency paused its advance versus the euro after the European Central Bank talked about economic recovery, but resumed the rally on the very next day on the better-than-expected non-farm payrolls.
Several central banks held policy meetings this week, including the ECB, the Bank of England, the Bank of Canada, and the Reserve Bank of Australia. There were no surprises as the banks left their monetary policies unchanged. The ECB mentioned recovery, sparking optimism among Forex traders. The positive sentiment was short-lived though and the euro lost all of its gains versus the dollar.
The end of the week was very good for the US currency as employment data turned out to be even better than optimistic forecasts. It confirmed that economic growth in the United States is gaining momentum, increasing the attractiveness of US assets, and added to speculations that the Federal Reserve may drop stimulus sooner rather than later.
EUR/USD climbed from 1.3012 to 1.3133, but failed and ended the week at 1.2997. GBP/USD went down from 1.5040 to 1.4919 after climbing to 1.5197. USD/JPY went up from 93.61 to 96.04, reaching the highest weekly close since August 2009.
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