The dollar is little changed against its major competitors Thursday afternoon. Modest gains in early trade have since eroded back to nearly flat on the session. The U.S. currency climbed ahead of comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. Investors were hopeful that Yellen would provide some clues on monetary policy during her opening remarks at a Fed conference in Washington. However, that did not occur.
However, James Bullard, the President of the St. Louis Federal Reserve stated that there is no reason to keep interest rates at record lows near zero. The current unemployment rate of 5 percent is “statistically indistinguishable” from the Fed’s long-term goals, Bullard stated.
“In addition, the current year-over-year inflation rate, while low, reflects an outsized oil price shock that occurred during 2014.”
First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly came in flat in the week ended November 7th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday. The report said initial jobless claims came in at 276,000, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised level. Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 270,000.
Investors are preparing for the release of a large number of economic reports tomorrow. the producer price index, retail sales, business inventories and consumer sentiment are all slated to be released Friday morning.
The European Central Bank will re-examine the degree of monetary policy accommodation at the December meeting, President Mario Draghi said Thursday.
“We will closely monitor the risks to price stability and thoroughly assess the strength and persistence of the factors that are slowing the return of inflation to levels below, but close to, 2 percent,” Draghi told the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee in Brussels.
While the euro area economic recovery is progressing moderately, the return of inflation is likely to take more time than expected earlier, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said Thursday.
“Signs of a sustained turnaround in core inflation have somewhat weakened,” Draghi said at a hearing at the European Parliament’s economic affairs committee.
The dollar rose to an early high of $1.0690 against the Euro Thursday, but has since retreated to around $1.0780.
Eurozone’s industrial production declined more-than-expected in September led by a slump in durable consumer goods output, and marked its second consecutive fall, figures from Eurostat showed Thursday.
Industrial production dropped 0.3 percent from August, when output fell 0.4 percent, which was revised from a 0.5 percent decrease. Economists had expected a modest 0.1 percent decline. In July, production increased 0.7 percent.
Germany’s inflation accelerated as initially estimated in October, final data from the Destatis showed Thursday. Consumer prices rose 0.3 percent year-on-year in October after staying flat in September. The latest gain was the fastest since June, when prices climbed at the same pace.
France’s EU measure of inflation increased in October, data published by the statistical office Insee showed Thursday. The harmonized index of consumer prices rose 0.2 percent on a yearly basis, after gaining 0.1 percent each in September and August. Economists had forecast it to stay at 0.1 percent.
France’s current account turned to a surplus in September from a deficit in the previous month, largely due to the growth in the services trade surplus, the Bank of France said Thursday. The current account balance showed a surplus of EUR 0.5 billion in September against a deficit of EUR 0.1 billion in August.
The buck reached an early high of $1.5173 against the pound sterling Thursday, but has since pulled back to around $1.5220.
House prices in the United Kingdom remain on an upward curve, the latest house price balance from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors showed on Thursday with a score of 49 percent. That topped forecasts for 45 percent, and it was up sharply from 44 percent in September.
The greenback climbed to a high of Y123.072 against the Japanese Yen Thursday, but has since eased back to around Y122.665.
Core machine orders in Japan jumped 7.5 percent on month in September, the Cabinet Office said on Thursday – worth 816.4 billion yen. The headline figure topped forecasts for an increase of 3.3 percent following the 5.7 percent decline in August.
Producer prices in Japan were down 0.6 percent on month in October, the Bank of Japan said on Thursday. That missed forecasts for a decline of 0.4 percent following the 0.6 percent contraction in September.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com