The dollar is turning in another mixed performance Wednesday afternoon, but is little changed overall against its major rivals. While U.S. economic data remains sparse, investors are looking ahead to Thursday’s announcement from the European Central Bank.
The ECB is largely expected to announce further stimulus measures when it concludes its meeting, but it is unknown how extensive the measures will be. Investors are left pondering whether the ECB will go so far as to announce negative rates, like the Bank of Japan did recently.
Wholesale inventories in the U.S. unexpectedly saw a modest increase in the month of January, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday. The Commerce Department said wholesale inventories rose by 0.3 percent in January following a revised unchanged reading in December.
Economists had expected inventories to edge down by 0.1 percent, matching the drop originally reported for the previous month.
The dollar rose to an early high of $1.0944 against the Euro Wednesday, but has since pulled back to around $1.1020.
The French economy is set to expand at a slower pace than estimated earlier due to sluggish activity growth in the industry, services and construction sectors, a report from the Bank of France said Wednesday.
Gross domestic product is forecast to grow 0.3 percent in the first quarter versus 0.4 percent projected earlier, the bank said.
The buck slipped to a low of $1.4240 against the pound sterling Wednesday, but has since bounced back to around $1.4220.
U.K. industrial production increased for the first time in three months in January as the expansion in manufacturing offset a sharp reduction in oil and gas extraction. Industrial output grew 0.3 percent on a monthly basis, reversing December’s 1.1 percent decline, the Office for National Statistics reported Wednesday.
The increase was the first in three months and the fastest in five months. However, the pace of growth was slightly slower than an expected 0.4 percent increase.
The greenback dipped to an early low of Y112.207 Wednesday, but has since climbed to Y113.330.
The M2 money stock climbed 3.1 percent on year in February, the Bank of Japan said on Wednesday – coming in at 919.3 trillion yen. That was shy of expectations for an increase of 3.2 percent, which would have been unchanged from the January reading.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com