Forex Today: US inflation data could wake the markets up
Here is what you need to know on Tuesday, February 13:
Following another day of indecisive action on Monday, currency markets' attention shifts to January Consumer Price Index data from the US on Tuesday. ZEW Survey results from Germany will also be looked upon for fresh impetus during the European trading hours and OPEC will release its Monthly Market Report.
The US Dollar (USD) Index continues to fluctuate in a narrow band above 104.00 early Tuesday. Annual inflation in the US is forecast to soften to 2.9% from 3.4% in December. On a monthly basis, the CPI and the core CPI are expected to rise 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively. Ahead of the key inflation data, US stock index futures trade marginally lower and the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield stays near 4.2%.
US CPI data Forecast: Core inflation to edge down to 3.8% and headline to 3.0% according to economists.
The UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported early Tuesday that the ILO Unemployment Rate declined to 3.8% in the three months to December from 4.2%. This reading came in below the market expectation of 4%. Other details of the jobs report showed that the annual wage inflation, as measured by the change in the Average Earnings Excluding Bonus, softened to 6.2% from 6.7% in the same period. GBP/USD gained traction and climbed to the 1.2650 area in the early European session.
The annual CPI in Switzerland rose 1.3% in January, down from the market expectation and December's increase of 1.7%. The initial reaction weighed on the Swiss Franc and USD/CHF was last seen rising nearly 0.5% on the day at around 0.8800.
US Dollar price today
The table below shows the percentage change of US Dollar (USD) against listed major currencies today. US Dollar was the strongest against the Swiss Franc.
| USD | EUR | GBP | CAD | AUD | JPY | NZD | CHF | |
| USD | 0.04% | -0.20% | -0.01% | 0.16% | 0.10% | 0.36% | 0.39% | |
| EUR | -0.04% | -0.24% | -0.05% | 0.11% | 0.07% | 0.33% | 0.35% | |
| GBP | 0.19% | 0.23% | 0.18% | 0.37% | 0.32% | 0.58% | 0.60% | |
| CAD | 0.01% | 0.05% | -0.19% | 0.14% | 0.12% | 0.37% | 0.40% | |
| AUD | -0.16% | -0.14% | -0.37% | -0.18% | -0.08% | 0.22% | 0.30% | |
| JPY | -0.09% | -0.05% | -0.30% | -0.10% | 0.06% | 0.29% | 0.35% | |
| NZD | -0.36% | -0.33% | -0.56% | -0.37% | -0.21% | -0.26% | 0.04% | |
| CHF | -0.40% | -0.41% | -0.60% | -0.45% | -0.30% | -0.35% | -0.05% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the Euro from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the Japanese Yen, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent EUR (base)/JPY (quote).
After closing the first trading day of the week virtually unchanged, EUR/USD continues to move up and down in a tight range below 1.0800 early Tuesday.
USD/JPY registered small gains on Monday and continued to push higher during the Asian trading hours on Tuesday. At the time of press, the pair was trading at its highest level since late November above 149.50.
Gold closed the third consecutive trading day in negative territory on Monday, pressured by rising US T-bond yields. In the European morning, XAU/USD stages a correction and trades modestly higher on the day above $2,020.