The dollar is trading slightly lower against its major rivals Wednesday afternoon, but is little changed overall. There was again no U.S. economic data to drive the direction of trading today, but the Beige Book was released this afternoon.
The U.S. economy continued to expand at a modest pace despite problems in the energy and manufacturing sectors, according to the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book.
The Beige Book, a collection of anecdotal reports from the Fed’s 12 district, revealed that consumers remained in a relatively upbeat mood amid low gas prices.
Economic activity has expanded in nine of the districts since the previous Beige Book report and contacts in Boston were described as upbeat.
Meanwhile, New York and Kansas City described economic activity in their Districts as essentially flat.
Investors can look forward to the release of weekly jobless claims tomorrow, along with import and export prices. A large number of reports are slated for Friday, including retail sales, producer prices, industrial production and consumer sentiment, among others.
The dollar rose to a high of $1.0804 against the Euro Wednesday morning, but has since pulled back to around $1.0870.
Eurozone industrial production declined the most in 15 months in November as warm weather reduced energy output, diluting hopes that output contributed to growth in the final quarter of the year. Industrial production decreased 0.7 percent in November from October, when it grew by a revised 0.8 percent, figures from Eurostat revealed Wednesday. That was the biggest fall since August 2014.
Economists had forecast a 0.3 percent drop in production, following an initially estimated growth of 0.6 percent.
French consumer prices rose more than expected in December on higher fresh food and services cost, the statistical office Insee reported Wednesday. Consumer prices climbed 0.2 percent year-on-year after staying flat in November. Prices were expected to rise 0.1 percent.
The French current account deficit widened in November on falling income from invisible trade, the Bank of France reported Wednesday. The current account gap rose to EUR 1.4 billion from EUR 1 billion in October.
The buck climbed to an early high of $1.4376 against the pound sterling Wednesday, but has since eased back to around $1.4440.
The U.K. economy expanded 0.6 percent in three months to December, according to a monthly report released by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. It was followed by a 0.6 percent growth in three months to November. The quarterly growth implies that the economy expanded 2.2 percent in 2015.
The greenback reached a high of Y118.379 against the Japanese Yen Wednesday, but has since slipped to around Y117.835.
The M2 money stock in Japan was up 3.0 percent on year in December, the Bank of Japan said on Wednesday, coming in at 921.1 trillion yen. That was shy of forecasts for a gain of 3.3 percent, which would have been unchanged from the November reading.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com