It hasn’t been a great week for the US dollar, with much of the data releases being short of the expected figures and dovish comments from the US Federal Reserve.
Monday saw the release of lower than expected regional manufacturing data for New York, while on Tuesday the American currency was unable to compete with sterling strength, despite positive data from Housing starts and building permits. The focus this week was on Consumer inflation figures and the US Federal Reserve minutes; both released on Wednesday. Inflation was below expectations, and while an early snippet of the meeting minutes gave the US dollar much needed strength thanks to comments about an interest rate hike – once the actual meeting minutes were released, this strength was reversed thanks to dovish comments regarding low inflation and concerns over the situation in China.
Today we will see the release of Flash Manufacturing Purchase Managers’ Index, and this is expected to show strong signs of growth.