USD Drops After Durable Goods Fell in December

January 27, 2015 Share Print 0

The dollar declined from the highest level on record after U.S. durable-goods orders decreased 3.4 percent in December.

The U.S. currency fell against most major counterparts as the drop in items meant to last at least three years followed a 2.1 percent slide the prior month, data from the Commerce Department showed in Washington. Federal Reserve policy makers meeting this week are forecast to hold interest rates steady as a winter storm slowed the U.S. northeast. The euro strengthened after a Swiss National Bank official said it remained ready to intervene in markets. The ruble rose from a record low.

“The dollar should perhaps give back a little ground on the basis of the durable goods data — they were unequivocally weak and well below expectations,” said Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canada’s largest lender. “The issue is perhaps participation. The storm is keeping people at home and markets are fairly illiquid it seems.”

The Bloomberg Dollar Index, a gauge of the currency’s performance against 10 major peers, slid 0.5 percent to 1,156.24 at 8:58 a.m. New York time. It closed at a record 1,161.42 in New York on Jan. 26.

via Bloomberg

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Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse

Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.