The U.S. dollar trimmed its early advance against its major rivals in New York deals on Friday, as U.S. economy grew at a slower rate than forecast in the fourth quarter of 2014.
According to the final estimate released by the Commerce Department, the GDP increased by 2.2 percent in the fourth quarter, unchanged from the growth estimated last month.
Economists had been expecting the pace of GDP growth to be upwardly revised to 2.4 percent, which would still reflect a notable slowdown from the 5.0 percent growth seen in the third quarter.
Traders await final reading of Reuters/University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index for March, as well as the Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s speech for further signals on monetary policy. Last week, Yellen seemed dovish on the pace of future rate rises in the U.S.
U.S. Federal Reserve Vice Chair Stanley Fischer said that there are signs that nonbank financial sector has not been much affected to the types of shocks seen during the U.S. financial crisis.
“At this stage of the recovery, there are signs of reduced nonbank financial sector vulnerabilities,” Fischer said in remarks prepared for delivery at a conference in Frankfurt, Germany. “The available data paint a picture of a nonbank sector that has generally reduced its vulnerability to the types of shocks that we saw during the crisis,” he added.
The greenback was higher in the early European session today, extending Thursday’s rally. Thursday, the greenback rose 0.36 percent against the franc, 0.78 against the euro and 0.24 against the pound.
The greenback declined to 1.4921 against the pound, off early 1-week high of 1.4796. The next possible support for the greenback may be located around the 1.50 zone.
The greenback, having advanced to a 3-day high of 0.9691 against the franc at 4:00 am ET, retreated to 0.9611. Extension of the greenback’s downtrend may lead it to a support near the 0.95 area.
The greenback pared gains to 119.01 against the Japanese yen, from a hit of 119.48 touched in early European deals. If the greenback continues slide, it is likely to challenge support around the 118.00 level.
The greenback reversed from an early 4-day high of 1.0800 against the euro, edging down to 1.0897. On the downside, the greenback may test support around the 1.10 region.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com