020 7898 0500When will dollar weakness end? It ended 2017 on a bit of a sour note and, despite picking up slightly at the turn of the year, it has become the currency to watch. Nothing particularly stands out as a chief reason for dollar weakness, but Donald Trump’s leadership has hardly instilled confidence in the US. His tax reforms didn’t stimulate the markets as much as might reasonably have been expected and Trump’s recent Tweets concerning the ‘Fake News Awards’ are beneath a man in a position such as his.
However, yesterday we saw some extremely positive data releases in the form of the initial jobless claims. They came in at 220,000 up 13 January 2018 which was significantly lower than the 250,000 expected. It is the lowest reading since 1973 and provides some evidence of a healthy economy. Having said this, housing starts slumped by 8.2% month-on-month in December when a 1.7% decline had been expected. Rather disappointing and a pretty sour note.
Today we have the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment for January. It is expected to rise a little which would be welcome news given it declined from November to December.
